The plantation sector in Sri Lanka: Recent changes in the welfare of children and women

Although Sri Lanka has achieved high standards of mass well-being, physical quality of life indicators for the historically deprived plantation population fall well below the impressive national averages. This paper analyses the position of women and children on the plantations within the context of the global recession and national economic strategies. It highlights some of the programmes which, along with a legacy of concern for social welfare in Sri Lanka, have attempted to maintain and even improve the living conditions of plantation women and children.