NP Rank:
SL woman MP asked to leave Parliament for violating dress code
A Sri lankan woman MP belonging to a Tamil political party was asked to leave parliament for violating the parliamentary dress code.
Instead of the saree, the MP from Eastern Batticaloa dressed in a salwar kameez.
Colombo, 12 June: A woman MP of a Tamil political party was asked to leave the Sri Lankan Parliament for violating the parliamentary dress code by coming to the House dressed in a salwar kameez.
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP from Eastern Batticaloa Ms Thangeswary Kathiraman was ordered to leave the House yesterday after she was seen dressed in a salwar kameez. According to Sri Lankan Parliamentary dress code, women MPs have to wear saree while inside the Chamber of the House.
Ten years ago, the Deputy Women's Affairs Minister Nirupama Rajapakse said "I wonder whether any woman is bold enough to change the dress and get to parliament."
It seems that Ms Thangeswary Kathiraman was.
According to the rules, in parliament all female MPs must wear saris.
Deputy Women's Affairs Minister Nirupama Rajapakse says any change would be seen as an attack on the culture. "I wonder whether any woman is bold enough to change the dress and get to parliament," she says.
NowPublic on Facebook
Crowd Power
-
Suranee
Ratnapura, Sri Lanka






Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (6)
at 20:18 on June 12th, 2009
Wow, Maggy Thatcher would been hitting people with her hand bag if we had such a silly stupid moronic rule in the House of Commons.
at 00:02 on June 13th, 2009
Women should be able to wear what they feel comfortable in Babel-Fish. It's just wrong to send her out of Parliament for wearing what she wanted to. The national dress for men here in Sri Lanka is the white sarong and a white long sleeved shirt. The male MP's in the Sri lanka parliament wear that but there are a few like Mr. Ravi Karunayake who wears the three piece suit. So I don't see why they would allow the men to wear two different varieties of clothing in parliament and make a fuss over a woman MP wearing a salwar kameez instead of the saree.
at 08:17 on June 13th, 2009
What is a salwar kameez? I'm not familiar with that.
at 08:26 on June 13th, 2009
A salwar kameez covers the whole body. It consists of a top with long sleeves and a pair of pants, sometimes baggy and sometimes not so baggy. A shawl is also draped over the shoulder.
The following excerpt gives a description of what a salwar kameez is.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
at 09:45 on June 13th, 2009
Thank you - that helps!
at 00:03 on June 14th, 2009
You are welcome.