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Research Journal of the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka- Rohana 11, 2019

Women’s marginalization of society is an outcome of several factors. They can be
categorized broadly into three namely, socio-economic, ideological, and political.

Within feminist theory different schools analyses the relation between these aspects

in different ways. Feminists argue that the gender division of labour in
contemporary society has confined woman to the position of housewife which

chains her to unpaid housework, dependency on man, lower social status, and
gender discrimination. The liberal feminists believe that the sex specific attitudes on

women and the division of labour in the society are mainly based on the informal

customs which violate the liberal political values (Amarasinghe, 1999; 07: Jagger,
1983; 75-76: Wallby, 1992; 68). The overall objective of the study was to examine

the impact of globalization march on the formation of the division of labour gender
wise within contemporary rural community in Sri Lanka.

Statement of the problem and research questions

The progress achieved by Sri Lanka on account of gender equality, as shown by the
global indicators, enjoys a higher position than the rest of South Asian countries.

Nevertheless, these advancements depicted by global indicators pose the question as
to why this phenomenon of male centred domination perpetuates regarding gender

relationship between men and women within the context of rural family units in Sri
Lanka.

Thus, in this research the following questions have been pursued.

a) understanding the Western concepts such as authoritative globalization
ideology and gender discrimination operating in the Eastern rural societies

b) Identification of the nature, and patterns existing with the gender relationship

regarding the domestic division of labour in the rural family units in Sri
Lanka.

3