Attached
Traditionally in many societies including Sri Lanka, females w ere expected to be engaged
in household duties and less or not promoted for formal education as well as outside
employment. However, contemporary societies are debating on equal status for the
female and estimating her socio - economic contributions to families and to wider society.
Current worid of work shows that females are performing various types of challenging
careers equal to/or better than males. Accordingly, this study attempts to find out the
nature of selecting employments among females and the factors affecting their selection of
employment. The study was carried out in the Kesbewa Divisional Secretarial in the
Colombo district. Data and information was gathered from randomly selected 50 wom en
through a questionnaire survey. In-depth interviews w ere conducted with 5 females for
further information. It was observed that 8 0 % of females’ marital states, 4 2 % of
educational background as well as 3 2 % for freedom of the occupation have been severe
factors affecting their selection of employments. Further, number of -family members has
been a major reason in the selection of occupations. It was also noticed that the majority
of the occupations do not provide free time for females to take care of their kids and
families. As a result, 6 4 % of them had to resign from their previous permanent work
places and have to engage in other means of earning through self-employment such as
private tuition classes, saloons, flower shops, boutiques, communications etc.
Interestingly, it can be indicated that even though they are occupied in various sectors,
the majority of the female’s first preference is to teaching as a career. It is due to their
belief that teaching as a career provides m ore free time to look after the household work
while working as a teacher. It is also noted that even though the contemporary females
have engaged in many high level careers such as Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers, and
Administrators etc.
