* Mandatory
First Name *
Last Name *
Email *
Job Title
Organisation / Institute
Country Select ... Australia New Zealand --------------- Afghanistan Åland Islands Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, The Democratic Republic of The Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote D'ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and Mcdonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and The Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and The South Sandwich Islands Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand Timor-leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States United States Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Viet Nam Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, U.S. Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe
My relationship** with Monash University (tick all that apply): I'm an alumnus, friend or supporter (including donors, mentors and industry partners) I'm a Monash student I'm interested in studying at Monash I recently applied to study at Monash I'm a Monash staff member I recently participated in research activities or studies with Monash Other
Submit your details
I agree to receive marketing communications from Monash Business School. Monash University values the privacy of every individual's personal information and is committed to the protection of that information from unauthorised use and disclosure except where permitted by law. For information about the handling of your personal information please see Data Protection and Privacy Procedure and our ** Data Protection and Privacy Collection Statements. If you have any questions about how Monash University is collecting and handling your personal information, please contact our Data Protection and Privacy Office at dataprotectionofficer@monash.edu.
You may republish this article online or in print under our Creative Commons licence. You may not edit or shorten the text, you must attribute the article to Impact, and you must include the author’s name in your republication.
If you have any questions, please email Impact.editor@business.monash.edu.au
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives
The theme for International Women’s Day challenges us to “be bold for change”. Australian women rightly consider gender equity an ongoing challenge.
But in neighbouring South Asia, consider the sobering assessment of the World Economic Forum, which found in its Global Gender Gap Report 2016 that it will require 146 years of change for the gender gap to be closed.
For Sri Lanka this is an especially important challenge and the gender gap – and the role of women more broadly in their society and economy – has driven much of our research and engagement with the people and government of that nation.
Most recently there has been a growing interest in the role that women entrepreneurs play in Sri Lanka and fostering their small, often home-based businesses.
The Monash Business School’s Department of Management has played a significant role in training key Sri Lanka administrators at all levels to do this through an ongoing program of Australian Awards Fellowships (AAF) and Public Sector Linkages Programs (PSLP).
These are in partnership with the Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration (SLIDA) and funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
These two programs bring together academics, officials from Sri Lanka and a wide range of government and industry organisations at national, state and local levels in Australia to identify and solving real-world problems.
The Sri Lankan Fellows are already engaged with their local communities, but require the insights and tools to give full effect to the plans they have.
Since 2010, three programs involving 75 Sri Lankan delegates have come to Monash Business School’s Caulfield campus to learn about public management theories, public leadership, public-private partnerships, governance, communication and interpersonal skills for the public service. They have been taught the use of creativity and innovation in public policy, gender issues in development and mentoring.
The latest program in 2016 focused specifically on developing skills needed to support women-led micro-businesses in the informal sector, and it sought to help some transform themselves into entrepreneurial enterprises.
Micro-businesses are an important force in employment creation, income generation and reducing income disparities. The Department of Census and Statistics reports that during 2013-2014 micro-businesses (defined as an enterprise employing 1-4 persons) represented 92 per cent of all private enterprises in Sri Lanka, with 26 per cent headed by women.
The majority of these women-headed enterprises operate in rural areas.
Fifty-five per cent of micro-businesses in Sri Lanka are unregistered and thus belong to the informal sector.
So the AAF 2016’s overall objective was to move women entrepreneurs from the informal sector to the formal sector in Sri Lanka.
These are skills women cannot always access for themselves, and so the AAF, and the PSLP (to some extent), have provided an essential link between female micro-business entrepreneurs and the civil servants who can help nurture them.
These create a partnership between civil servants – including a considerable number of highly skilled women – with women entrepreneurs who make great sacrifices and apply keen insight into identifying business opportunities that Sri Lanka offers. It provides an opportunity indeed to “be bold for change” and also to abbreviate the journey to gender equality for women.
The program’s objectives are also closely aligned with Australian aid expectations of empowering women and girls, promoting gender equality and addressing barriers to women’s participation.
Finally, the programs and experiences continue to contribute to the academic literature that addresses issues that confront women in advancing their place in their society, especially in Sri Lanka.
Acknowledging society’s traditions and gendering, but also asserting and analysing how this can and will change too, requires boldness – in aims and in implementation.