A virtual workshop for State Ministry of Women and Child Development, Pre-Schools & Primary Education, School Infrastructure and Education Services

Sustainable Development Goal 5 is about achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls. 
Sri Lanka is a country that has made remarkable progress in universal primary education with a high literacy rate. According to available data, female and male literacy rates are 91% and 93% respectively in 2016. 
However, despite gender parity in school enrolment rates, a wider gender gap could be seen in female labor force participation. According to the 2019 Labour Force Survey, only 34.5 % of working age females are engaged in the labour market, compared to 73% of males. Furthermore, the proportion of women in managerial positions is about 25.6%. 
Furthermore, female representation in Parliament is 5.8% which is very low when compared with 18% average in South-Asian countries. 
In order to accelerate Sri Lanka’s progress on SDG 5 on Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women, a virtual workshop was conducted on 17th August 2021 by the Sustainable Development Council for the State Ministry of Women and Child Development, Pre-Schools & Primary Education, School Infrastructure and Education Services and the institutions under its purview to discuss the alignment between  Ministry Strategic Plans  with SDGs and to develop a Data Roadmap for the State Ministry in line with the National Policy Framework ‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendor’.
The State Ministry is entrusted with a number of responsibilities including ensuring the safety of women and children, ensuring the children’s rights, implementing special nutrition programs to end malnutrition of all children and women empowerment. 
Secretary to the State Ministry presided over the workshop with the participation of senior officials and the Heads of the affiliated institutions including Educational Publications Department, Women's Bureau, National Secretariat for Early Childhood Development, National Committee on Women, National Child Protection Authority, Department of Probation and Child Care Services.
The technical discussions were led by the officials of the Sustainable Development Council with contributions from the Department of Census and Statistics, UNDP, ILO, UNICEF, UN Women and the UNFPA Sri Lanka.