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Female Representation in Sri Lankan Boards
Comparison of female director representation in LMD 100 companies.
Primary Sources
Women in Sri Lanka's boards: The glass ceiling persists
By Cathrine Weerakkody Sri Lanka presents a striking paradox. Women consistently outperform men in higher education, with tertiary enrolment at 23% for women against 16% for men, yet their participation in the formal labour force hovers around 34%, and their presence at the top of corporate Sri Lanka remains deeply marginal. The numbers are stark. An analysis of the LMD 100 for 2024/25 found that women hold just 140 of 945 directorships across 100 listed companies, a mere 14.8%, barely changed from the previous year. Twenty-three of those companies remain all-male boards. The energy sector has no female directors at all. A voluntary progressive quota of 30% female board representation, introduced through the 2019 national budget proposals, was supposed to be met by 2024. It has not been. Meanwhile, the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2025 delivers an uncomfortable verdict: Sri Lanka is the only economy to have moved backwards since 2006, falling 7.5 percentage points in its overall score and ranking 128th for economic participation and opportunity. This is not a country making progress. Intervention The case for intervention is well-evidenced. A 2025 study published in Business Strategy & Development(Kaluarachchi, 2025), drawing on Sri Lankan listed companies from 2012 to 2022, finds that the inclusion of female directors is positively associated with improved financial performance. This is consistent with earlier IFC-commissioned research showing that Sri Lanka’s top-performing companies by gender diversity outperformed their peers on return on equity, return on total assets and price-to-earnings ratios. The governance benefits are also well-documented: diverse boards bring wider perspective, sharper risk oversight and stronger accountability, attributes of particular relevance in Sri Lanka’s banking and financial services sector. Yet the debate over how to achieve change is genuine, and the international evidence is instructive rather than straightforwardly prescriptive. Norway’s mandatory 40% quota, the first in the world, legislated in 2003 and enforced by 2008, did succeed in dramatically raising female representation. But it also generated unintended consequences. Firms appointed younger, less experienced directors, a small group of women accumulated multiple board seats (the so-called “golden skirts” phenomenon), and several firms converted from public to private to avoid compliance. Research by Bertrand et al. (2018) found tha...
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Why Women In Corporate Leadership Matter? | Kapable Blog
By understanding how organisations can support women in leadership, we can better shape the future of corporate leadership, where women's representation and influence continue to grow and evolve. The Future Of Women In Corporate Leadership The future of women in corporate leadership is promising, though still challenging.
Sri Lanka Captain Chamari Athapaththu Appointed to World Cricketers' Association Advisory Board - Female Cricket
It is important that players from all regions, especially from Asia, are heard and represented in key decisions that shape the future of the game,” she added. Also Read: 16-year-old India cricketer Richa Ghosh donates Rs 1 lakh to West Bengal CM's Relief Fund · Athapaththu’s role on the board goes beyond symbolic value. With years of experience leading Sri Lanka and performing at the highest level, she understands the demands placed on modern cricketers.
