Women in the Sri Lanka Army

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There is a separate corps for women in the Sri Lanka Army which is known as Sri Lanka Army Women's Corps.

Making a corps for women was dreamed by former Commander of the Army General Denis Perera who became commander in October 1977. By the request of Gen. Perera British Army's Women's Royal Army Corps provided assistance[1][2] and in 1978 three females were sent to Britain for officer training. They returned to Sri Lanka in August 1979 after completion of eight months of training. The Sri Lanka Army Women's Corps was officially formed on September 14, 1979, with one battalion (the 1st regular battalion).

The first three female cadets to enroll in the army were K.C. Jayaweera, M.P Wijegunawardena and V.P. Senevitathna (trained in Britain) and the first batch of female cadets to be trained in Sri Lanka was commissioned from the Sri Lanka Military Academy on 18 August 1984.[3] On 16 October 1980, ten women were recruited for N.C.O. training and were given the basic Army training at the Army Training Centre, Diyatalawa. These N.C.O.s passed out in November 1980. The three officers and ten N.C.O.s participated at the Independence Day celebrations held at the Galle Face Green for the first time in 1981 and Women's Corps has been a part of the country's Independence celebrations ever since.[3] Lieutenant Colonel (later Brigadier) A.W. Thambiraja (male) was the first Commanding Officer of the 1st regular battalion (1 SLAWC) and Major K.C. Weerasekara was promoted to Lt. Col. in 1993; she was the first woman to be promoted to this rank from this corps and was also the first woman to be appointed as the commanding officer of the 1 SLAWC in 1989 in the rank of Major.

The regimental centre of the corps was established on 17 November 1997 at Borella. Male Major General W.A.A. de Silva RSP USP was the first Colonel Commandant of the Regiment from 1997 to 1998 and female Lieutenant Colonel M.H.P.S. Perera, USP was the first Centre Commandant from 1998 to 2004. Major General H.I.G. Wijerathna, USP was the first female colonel commandant of this regiment who served from 2008 to 2010 and Brigadier D.T.N. Munasinghe was the second female to be appointed as the colonel commandant in 2016.[4][5][6]

The primary aim of raising Women's Corps was to provide telephone operators, computer operators, nurses and clerks, to release the male counterparts to the battle field. However, women soldiers were also employed on field duties later.[7] Six more battalions were created in the 1990s and 2000s.

Over 25 female soldiers have been killed in action with the first in 1997.[8] In 2021, a special 'Women Corps Quick Reaction Rider Team' was formed to operate in an emergency situation in Jaffna; female soldiers were in motorcycles.[9]

Apart from the Women's Corps women are now recruited in the Sri Lanka Signals Corps, Military Intelligence Corps, Sri Lanka Army Medical Corps, Sri Lanka Corps of Military Police, Sri Lanka Army General Service Corps, Corps of Engineer Services, Sri Lanka Army Ordnance Corps and Sri Lanka Army Service Corps.

## General Denis Perera's speech[edit]

General Denis Perera (1930-2013) who is considered the father of the Sri Lanka Army Women's Corps said that,

> I had in mind to introduce women to serve in the Army as I found that a large number of men who could be employed in a combat role were tied down to work which could easily be carried by women e.g., nursing, clerical and communications. In fact, in Government and in the private sector women were found to be more suitable for these tasks than men. I did not want to take this subject up with the Government on an official basis, because I knew there were many chauvinists to whom this idea was anathema. So one evening when I had a relaxed conversation with the President, (he used to call me in for informal chats off and on) I broached the subject. He was all for it and asked me to go ahead and make suitable plans. It involved a lot of planning, including drafting new regulations, preparing dress orders, training methods, providing suitable accommodation etc. Official sanction was obtained through usual channels; and as the scheme had the blessings of the Head of State approval was received at all levels including budgetary provision in the following year particularly for training of the officers of the Women's Royal Army Corps in Bagshot in Surrey in England, very near the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. On my request to the British Army, a team from their military assistance group, comprising a male Lieutenant Colonel and two female Majors; one from the Queen Anne's Royal Army Nursing Corps and another from the Women's Royal Army Corps visited Sri Lanka in 1979 and prepared a comprehensive report on the formation of the Women's Army Corps and the assistance Britain could give in it's formation.

> — Gen. Denis Perera, [10]

## References[edit]

1. ^ "The raising of the Women's Corps on 1st September 1979 was a historic event. This is the first time women are getting into the army and much preparation went in to the preliminary stages including a visit by a British Army team and the Director-General of the British Army's Foreign Assistance Team (Major General Fergueson) himself spending some time in Sri Lanka and holding discussions with the Commander of the Army and senior staff with regard to assistance for training and raising of the Commandos and Women's Corps. The first three officer cadets for the Women's Corps were undergoing training at the British Army's Women's Corps Centre near Camberley in Surrey England." - Sri Lanka Army: 50 Years On, 1949-1999; p.288
2. ^ "The Commander of the Army visited the United Kingdom from 8th to 21st September 1980. During his visit he called on Gen. Sir Edwin Brammal Chief of the General Staff to thank him for the assistance provided to the Women's Corps and Commandos. He inspected the officers of the Sri Lanka Army Women's Corps who were undergoing training at Bagshot Camberley........" - Sri Lanka Army: 50 Years On, 1949-1999; p.316-317
3. ^ a b "History Of 1 SLAWC". alt.army.lk/slawc.
4. ^ "Newly-Appointed SLAWC Colonel Commandant Assumes Duties". alt.army.lk/slawc.
5. ^ "Sri Lanka Army Women's Corps, Sri Lanka Army". Sri Lanka Army. Archived from the original on 2007-01-28. Retrieved 2007-02-04.
6. ^ "Sri Lanka Army Women's Corps". army.lk. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
7. ^ "An officer and a lady: You've come a long way, lass". Sunday Observer. Retrieved 2006-10-08.
8. ^ "War Heroines". army.lk. Sri Lanka Army. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
9. ^ "Woman soldiers now operate as special riders to monitor spread of COVID-19 in Jaffna". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
10. ^ Sri Lanka Army: 50 Years On, 1949-1999, p. 276-277

## External links[edit]

* Sri Lanka Army: 50 Years On, 1949-1999 (official 1999 book of the Sri Lanka Army)