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January 15, 2018

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Women in Sri Lanka can now buy alcohol

Source: AFP | 00:01 UTC+8 January 15, 2018 | Print Edition

Sri Lanka has lifted a 39-year ban on women buying alcohol or working in places that sell or manufacture liquor, an official said yesterday.

The 1979 law prohibiting the sale of any type of alcohol to women on the island of 21 million people was overturned in an effort to strike sexist bills from the statute books, said a spokesman for the finance ministry.

“The idea was to restore gender neutrality,” Ali Hassen said of the decision on Wednesday to lift the ban.

The move also repeals a ban on women working in places where alcoholic drinks are made or sold, like bars.

Liquor vendors are still forbidden to sell spirits to police or members of the armed forces in uniform, Hassen said.

Sri Lanka in its November budget unveiled steep tax rises on hard liquor, but slashed tariffs on wine and beer. Under new measures also passed by Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera, bars and pubs can remain open longer.

It was unclear why the ban on women was imposed in the first place, but a ministry official said he believed it was to appease the Buddhist hierarchy then.

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