Maithree Wickremesinghe

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Maithree Wickremesinghe - Wikipedia

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Maithree Wickremasinghe
මෛත්‍රී වික්‍රමසිංහ
Wickremesinghe in 2023

8th First Lady of Sri Lanka
Assumed role 21 July 2022 – 23 September 2024
President	Ranil Wickremesinghe
Preceded by	Ioma Rajapaksa
Succeeded by	Mallika Dissanayaka
Second Lady of Sri Lanka
In role 8 January 2015
In office 2001

Personal details
Born	(1964-08-11) 11 August 1964 (age 60) Nawala, Dominion of Ceylon
Spouse	Ranil Wickremesinghe (m. 1994)
Education	Musaeus College, Colombo
Alma mater	King's College London University of Colombo University of London
Occupation	Professor
Work Institutions	University of Kelaniya
Field	Gender and women's studies

Professor Maithree Wickremesinghe (Sinhala: මෛත්‍රී වික්‍රමසිංහ; born 11 August 1964) is the former First Lady of Sri Lanka as the wife of President Ranil Wickremesinghe. She is a Sri Lankan academic, writer, and professor of English at the University of Kelaniya.^[1] She specialises in gender and women's studies.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Wickremesinghe is the founding director of the Centre for Gender Studies at the University of Kelaniya and a visiting professor on gender and women's studies at other educational institutions including the University of Colombo and University of Sussex. She has focused on gender equity and equality policy strategies, conducting gender sensitisation trainings, and evaluating women's and gender programs for local and international organizations for more than 25 years.

Family and education

The only child of Senevi B. Wickremasinghe and Shiranee Wickremasinghe (née Bandaratilaka) of Nawala, Koswatte, she attended Musaeus College, a private girls' school in Colombo. She graduated from King's College London with a BA (Hons) degree in English and went on to complete her MA degree in Women's Studies at the University of Colombo. She had gained her Ph.D. degree from the Institute of Education, University of London, specialising in feminist research methodology in Sri Lanka. In 1994, she married Ranil Wickremesinghe. In July 2022 she became the First Lady of Sri Lanka when Ranil became the President of Sri Lanka.^[5] She is the first presidential spouse with a Ph.D. in Sri Lanka.

Academia

Selected publications

From Theory to Action – Women, Gender and Development (2000), published by Friedrich Ebert Steiftung.
ITDG (Practical Action) book Gender Dimensions in Disaster Management (2003/2005), co-authored (with Madhavi Malalgoda Ariyabandhu)
Beyond Glass Ceilings and Brick Walls – Gender at the Workplace, co-authored with Wijaya Jayatilake and published by the International Labor Organization (2006).
" Feminist Research Methodology – Making Meaning of Meaning Making (2010) published by Rutledge.
" Towards Gender Equity / Equality: A Scan of gender Sensitive Laws, Policies and Programmes in Sri Lanka (2012) published by ILO.

References

^ "Global Affairs: Maithree Wickramasinghe". University of Pennsylvania School of Law. Archived from the original on 7 December 2016. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
^ "Ranil sworn in as President". Ceylon Today. 22 July 2022. Archived from the original on 24 July 2022. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
^ "How did Ranil Wickremesinghe become Sri Lanka's president after six terms as PM?". The National (Abu Dhabi). 20 July 2022. Archived from the original on 3 August 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
^ "First Lady travels alone in London". The Morning (Sri Lanka). 25 September 2022. Archived from the original on 27 September 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
^ "Sri Lankan parliament elects six-time PM Wickremesinghe as new president". France 24. 20 July 2022.

External links

Maithree Wickramasinghe at University of Kelaniya
Maithree Wickremesinghe publications indexed by Google Scholar

v t e Ranil Wickremesinghe
9th President of Sri Lanka (2022–2024) 10th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (1993–1994), (2001–2004), (2015–2019), (2022) Leader of the Opposition (1994–2001), (2004–2015) National List Member of the Sri Lankan Parliament (2021–2022) Member of the Sri Lankan Parliament for Colombo (1994–2020) Member of the Sri Lankan Parliament for Gampaha (1977–1994)
Presidency	16th Parliament of Sri Lanka Inauguration Presidential trips Cabinet 2019 economic crisis 2022 Sri Lankan protests 2022 Sri Lankan political crisis 2023 Sri Lankan blackouts Operation Yukthiya Online Safety Bill
Premierships	Parliaments 9th 12th 14th 15th 16th Prime ministerial trips Cabinets Wijetunga Kumaratunga Sirisena I Sirisena II Sirisena IV G. Rajapaksa IV Central Bank of Sri Lanka bond scandal 2018 Sri Lankan constitutional crisis 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings
Electoral history	Parliamentary 1977 1989 1994 2000 2001 2004 2010 2015 2020 Presidential 1999 2005 2022 2024
Family	Maithree Wickremesinghe (wife) Esmond Wickremesinghe (father) Shan Wickremesinghe (brother)
Related	115 Fifth Lane Batalanda detention centre
← Gotabaya Rajapaksa Anura Kumara Dissanayake →