BBC World Service - Women in Power

Born 1945 in Colombo, Sri Lanka - then known as Ceylon
Her father, Solomon Bandaranaike, was Prime Minister for three years from 1956-he was assassinated in 1959. In 1960 her mother, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, was elected Prime Minister
Chandrika studied at the Sorbonne, Paris
1978 married Vijaya Kumaratunga, popular film star and founded Sri Lanka People's Party with Chandrika as Vice-President
February 1988 Vijaya was assassinated in front of his wife
Lived in England for three years until return to Sri Lanka in 1991
1994 the People's Alliance Kumaratunga's new coalition won the elections
August 1994 Kumaratunga sworn in as Prime Minister
December 1994 Kumaratunga elected President and mother becomes Prime Minister

Politics was a family business for Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. Her father, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1956, was assassinated when she was only 14. Her mother then won the sympathy and the vote of the Sri Lankan people and was elected in his place. Ten months after her husband's death, Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the first woman Prime Minister in the world. Chandrika was sent abroad to continue her education and studied politics, economics, law and leadership at the Sorbonne. She was very active in student politics and said she was proud to be on the barricades during the student protests in Paris in 1968.

Although politics was in her blood, early on she decided that she would prefer to help people in other ways...

I have seen politics from the day I was born, from the day I could understand, and I was always attracted from a young age to the part that was involved with serving the people - my father was very much like that my mother was like that. I always was interested in what was going on in the world, but I had decided I will not go into active politics because I saw how much my mother and father had to give and how much they suffered - but it didn't work... I wanted to be a doctor first, if I was born in some other family I don't know what I would have done."

Chandrika Bandaranaike returned to Sri Lanka and was active in women's issues. In 1978 she married a very popular film star, Vijaya Kumaratunga, who was also active in politics. He went on to found the Sri Lanka People's Party with her as Vice-President.

One of the party's key goals was to find a peaceful solution to the Tamil problem. The Tamils are a minority community in Sri Lanka who had formed a rebel movement in the early 1970s and some Tamils had joined together to form the Tamil Tigers or LTTE with the aim of creating an independent Tamil state. The LTTE were responsible for repeated attacks and the Kumaratungas were trying to negotiate with the rebels. But in February 1988 Vijaya was assassinated by unknown attackers in front of his wife at their home. After her husband's funeral in a ceremony attended by half a million mourners, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga was chosen to lead the new coalition in his place. Following a number of death threats from extremists, she left Sri Lanka for England where she stayed for three years.

In 1991 Kumaratunga returned to Sri Lanka and in the 1994 national elections her new coalition, the People's Alliance, won with a majority of one seat. People were optimistic that after seventeen years of fear, Kumaratunga could bring peace to Sri Lanka. In August 1994, when she was 48, she was sworn in as Prime Minister. She promised to end the island's conflict and immediately began talks with the Tamil Tigers. Soon she was seen as leading candidate for President in the November 1994 elections. She went on to win with 62% of the popular vote and became President of Sri Lanka, appointing her mother as Prime Minister at the age of 78.

Whereas her mother had been called a "kitchen woman" (someone who knew all about cooking but nothing about running a country) when she was first elected, Chandrika Kumaratunga was well educated and had been involved in politics. She says that she did not experience any discrimination because of her sex.

"I have never in Sri Lanka ever felt that I was discriminated against or my authority was contested by the men working under my authority - just utterly and totally accepted. In this country the fact that you are a woman doesn't deter you from doing anything if you are talented and you can do your job properly just the same as for a man."

She believes that one of the reasons for the lack of discrimination is the long history of women's involvement in politics in Sri Lanka. It was one of the first countries this century to give women as well as men the right to vote when they acquired universal suffrage in 1932, before many countries in the West.

Whereas many countries operate a quota system to help increase the number of women in parliament, Kumaratunga believes that it is not necessary and there are no obstacles to Sri Lankan women getting involved in politics.

Some countries, especially in the developing world, have had to have laws saying this percentage of people's representatives must be females and that kind of thing. We've never had that need because very early, from the time I remember, there was no obstacle at all to women coming into politics or taking part in public life.

Whilst this view may be the case for elite women, it is not generally true for all women in Sri Lanka. Both Kumaratunga and her mother were helped by the "widow culture" - where women relatives of political figures are able to accede to power.

From the earliest days of her Presidency, Kumaratunga has tried to solve the problem of the war with the Tamil Tigers. An immediate end to hostilities was called within days of the election and, after talks with Tamil rebels, a truce agreed to take effect from January 1995. But following a number of rebel attacks a major offensive was launched in 1995 against the Tigers. In October 1995 Kumaratunga said that she believed a negotiated settlement was the only possible solution to the conflict, but the peace talks collapsed and she has continued to wage war against the Tigers. At that time she told a reporter that she lived like a prisoner in her home because of persistent threats to her life. When she was campaigning for the Presidency last year she described her attitude to danger:

"I have stopped worrying about my security because if I did I wouldn't do anything else. I would be shivering in my boots (laughs) - I leave that to my security people and hope for the best. As a Buddhist, I believe that one dies when the time comes, nothing can stop it, and if your time is not up you don't."

In the week leading up to the election, she narrowly escaped serious injury in an assassination attempt from a suicide bomber and her mother was also a victim of an attack.

News report on the events in Sri Lanka
and the effect on the Kumaratunga family

When her husband was killed, Kumaratunga was left to bring up her children on her own as a single mother. For her, it is as the children have grown older that juggling family and politics has become most difficult:

"But in my particular case as a woman, as a single mother I came into politics during the most difficult time of my children's life which is when they were teenagers and when they needed me most. So that was very difficult because I believe that parents should take care of their children properly and not just abandon them to the world, and that is the kind of relationship I had built with them. And the fact that I couldn't be there with them in the last five years I was very frustrated and my children weren't happy at allÉso how you balance the two is a problem one shouldn't marry at all if one wants to be in politics"

She is concerned that her children shouldn't feel that they must continue the family tradition she does not want them to continue the dynasty.

"I have counselled them in fact brainwashed them as much as a mother could out of wanting ever to do anything to do with politics. I think we have given up ourselves for four generations to the cause without any personal gain, except the pleasure of seeing problems solved and I think it's about enough, someone else should take the burden."

Kumaratunga has this advice for would-be politicians:

"Don't get too involved! And I think women must participate in the political processes in their countries but, as nature has decided that it is a woman who will have the children, even if the responsibilities are now beginning to be shared, it is a difficult thing."

In December 1999 Kumaratunga was re-elected President. In October 2000 the former prime minister and Kumaratunga's mother, Sirima Bandaranaike, died at the age of 84.

Whilst the war with the Tamils continues, Kumaratunga is still involved in negotiations with the Tigers in a continued effort to achieve peace.