In 1992 the then President Premadasa promoted the installation of garment factories in rural villages to counter poverty, prevent the potential of political unrest and in this way improve the economic standing of his people. The 200 GFP (200 Garment Factories Program), as the program was coined, employed poor women to sew clothes. Political opponents, unhappy with the plan, perverted the agenda and fabricated a stigma surrounding these women. These challengers verbally insulted the women by calling them “Juki girls”. They alleged that they committed sacrilege against the Buddhist tradition, that they were “Bad Girls,” and that they were sexually inappropriate. Although caste segregation had dissipated in their society, the title of these factory workers became synonymous with the new untouchables. This negativity affected these girls who often were single. A job in these factories almost guaranteed that it would be difficult to get married to a respectable
In 1992 the then President Premadasa promoted the installation of garment factories in rural villages to counter poverty, prevent the potential of political unrest and in this way improve the economic standing of his people. The 200 GFP (200 Garment Factories Program), as the program was coined, employed poor women to sew clothes. Political opponents, unhappy with the plan, perverted the agenda and fabricated a stigma surrounding these women. These challengers verbally insulted the women by calling them “Juki girls”. They alleged that they committed sacrilege against the Buddhist tradition, that they were “Bad Girls,” and that they were sexually inappropriate. Although caste segregation had dissipated in their society, the title of these factory workers became synonymous with the new untouchables. This negativity affected these girls who often were single. A job in these factories almost guaranteed that it would be difficult to get married to a respectable