Sirimavo Bandaranaike (1916-2000) was the world’s first woman to lead as a prime minister and permanently changed the legacy of her country.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan. And this is Encyclopedia Womannica.
Today, we’re talking about the world’s first woman to lead as a prime minister. She defied all expectations to take her position, and permanently changed the legacy of her country. Let’s talk about Sirimavo Bandaranaike.
Sirimavo Bandaranaike was born Sirima Ratwatte on April 17th, 1916, in what was then known as the country of Ceylon. She was the eldest of six siblings. Both her father and mother were prominent in the Sinhalese community -- that’s an ethnic group that forms the majority of the population of modern-day Sri Lanka.
At the time, Ceylon was a British colony undergoing a lot of anglicization. Many of the top families in the country took on governmental roles and British names.
Even Sirima’s father, Barnes Ratwatte, was named after a prominent British general. Nonetheless, Sirima’s family cared deeply about remaining Buddhist and preserving Sinhalese culture wherever they could.
When Sirima turned eight, her parents sent her to a convent boarding school in Colombo, the nation’s capital. Under the British colonial rule, this was the best possible option for education. Still, her parents also took care to maintain their cultural traditions and native language.
When Sirima finished her education, she spent years touring the country doing social work including delivering food and medicine. She hiked through jungles and rough terrain to help organize clinics and develop villages. As a result, she gained a positive reputation throughout the island.
In 1940, Sirima married a top government official named Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike in a grand, high-profile wedding. The two were considered a perfect match. While Sirima’s husband played a more anglicized role in the colonial government, Sirima herself understood the needs of those living in rural areas.
Sirima and Solomon had three children. Initially, Sirima’s professional role was largely that of an attentive wife. By 1948, Ceylon was headed toward independence from Britain, and Sirima’s home was packed to the brim with her husband’s political associates discussing strategy and the future of the country.
Solomon viewed his wife’s role as a submissive one. Still, she became a valuable political consultant. She was the one who convinced him to resign from his political position in 1951. After he resigned, he created the Sri Lankan Freedom Party, or SLFR, which sought Sinhalese control of the country and a democratic socialist government. Sirima aggressively campaigned for Solomon in the following years, and by 1956, he won by a landslide and started instituting left-wing and Sinhalese-centered policies.
Despite this victory, some of Solomon’s political actions sowed divisions and tensions between Ceylon’s various ethnic groups, such as the Tamil people. In 1959, he was murdered in his own private garden.
Sirima was devastated. Even so, she took action to fight for her husband’s legacy. The very next year, Sirima took leadership of the party and was voted in as the world’s first woman prime minister. She would serve as the leader of the SLFR for the following 40 years.
Sirima served as prime minister on and off over the next few decades, prioritizing the same democratic socialist policies as her husband. She strived to raise the quality of life of her people and reduce the overall inequality in her country.
Following a win in the 1970 election, Sirima introduced a new constitution that ended Ceylon’s status as a British Commonwealth realm and renamed the country Sri Lanka. She earned international respect. She also made mistakes. Her focus on empowering Buddhism and the Sinhalese people alienated the Tamil people.
During one term in power, an uprising against her party had to be defeated with international military aid from India and Pakistan. In the 1980’s, economic troubles in the country and accusations of corruption led to a crushing political loss.
By 1983, tensions between the Tamil and the majority Sinhalese people boiled over into a bloody civil war that lasted until 2009. Simira attempted to repair the damage caused by discrimination against the Tamil, but the divide was severe and her political power was waning, along with her popularity.
In 1994, Sirima’s daughter Chandrika became Prime Minister, and then later the President of the country. Chandrika appointed her mother as Prime Minister, but by then the Constitution had changed. The Prime Minister position was only supplementary to the role of President, offering little actual power.
Sirima remained in some form of office until a few months before her death. She passed away on election day, shortly after casting her vote, at the age of 84.
Though Sirimavo’s political legacy is complicated, she paved the way for future female heads of state and led through political hardships with strength.
As always, we’re taking a break for the weekend. Join us on Monday to hear the story of another trailblazing politician.
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Talk to you Monday!