Free pads to childcare - Sri Lankan politicians woo women voters

NEW DELHI, Nov 8 - With campaign promises like free sanitary pads and childcare for working women, the candidates in Sri Lanka's presidential election are going after the female vote like never before, in what some activists see as a generational shift.

"Women's issues have rarely been a focus, at least it has rarely been highlighted in this way," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone. His promise to provide free sanitary products earned him the title"Pad Man", after the hit Bollywood movie of that name. The other front runner, the 70-year-old former defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has promised more childcare centres for working mothers and debt relief for rural women from microloans.

The focus on women and LGBT+ issues echoes a similar trend in neighbouring India, where it was driven by increases in the turnout of female voters. Women's rights campaigners have given the candidates' pledges a cautious welcome in a country where such issues have long been low down the political agenda and where female participation in frontline politics remains low.

TRF_Stories Great news

TRF_Stories We laugh, but ouch. A big 🙌 to Sri Lanka for having TWO candidates seriously addressing the needs of women.

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