Sylvia Fernando (1904–1983) was a Sri Lankan educator and family planning advocate. She co-founded the Family Planning Association of Ceylon in 1953.
Sylvia Fernando was born to an elite family in
Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
, Ceylon in 1904. Her mother was a social worker and her father was an obstetrician and gynaecologist.
Fernando was a lead member of the All Ceylon Women's Conference.
Fernando met Swedish women's rights activist
Elise Ottesen-Jensen
Elise Ottesen-Jensen, also known as Ottar, (2 January 1886 − 4 September 1973) was a Norwegian-Swedish sex educator, journalist and anarchist agitator, whose main mission was to fight for women's rights to understand and control their own body a ...
in 1948. In 1954 they found an ally in Swedish ambassador
Alva Myrdal
Alva Myrdal ( , ; née Reimer; 31 January 1902 – 1 February 1986) was a Swedish sociologist, diplomat and politician. She was a prominent leader of the disarmament movement. She, along with Alfonso García Robles, received the Nobel Peace ...
and lobbied their governments to try a family planning project. In May 1958, Sweden agreed to provide $80,000 to distribute contraceptives in two communities in Ceylon.
References
Further reading
*Huston, Perdita. "Sylvia Fernando (1904–1983)."
Motherhood by Choice: Pioneers in Women's Health and Family Planning.' NY: The Feminist Press, 1992. pp. 39–54
*Linder, Doris H. ''Crusader for Sex Education: Elise Ottesen-Jensen (1886–1973) in Scandinavia and on the International Scene.'' Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1996.
*"Sylvia Fernando 1904–1983," in ''People''
ondon Vol. 19, no. 1, 1992, p. 24.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernando, Sylvia
1904 births
1983 deaths
Birth control activists
Sinhalese educators