The Sri Lanka Army Women's Corps (SLAWC) is a corps of the

Sri Lanka Army The Sri Lanka Army (; ) is the oldest and largest of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. The army was officially established as the Ceylon Army in 1949, though the army traces its roots back in 1881 when Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteers was created; ...

. The corps was raised on 1 September 1979. The regimental headquarters of this corps is at

Borella Borella is the largest suburb in Colombo, Sri Lanka represented by divisional code 8. Demographic Borella is a multi-religious and multi-ethnic area. The major ethnic communities in Borella are Sinhalese people, Sinhalese and Tamils. There are a ...

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

. Initially, members of this corps were employed in non-combat staff duties but later were employed in field duties.

History

The corps was created by the help of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

Women's Royal Army Corps The Women's Royal Army Corps (WRAC; sometimes pronounced acronymically as , a term unpopular with its members) was the corps to which all women in the British Army belonged from 1949 to 1992 except medical, dental and veterinary officers and chap ...

(WRAC) and 3 women were sent to Britain for eight months long officer training who returned to Sri Lanka in August 1979 after completion of training and were taken into the women's corps in November of the same year. Lieutenant Colonel A.W. Thambiraja who was later promoted to Brigadier was the first commanding officer of this corps and Lieutenant Colonel Kumudini Weerasekara was the first female commanding officer. Instructors from Britain's WRAC came to Sri Lanka in 1980 to train Sri Lankan females for women's corps and 10 women were trained into the Army Training Centre,

Diyatalawa Diyatalawa (), (), meaning ) is a former garrison town in the central highlands of Sri Lanka, in the Badulla District of Uva Province. It is situated at an altitude of and has become a popular destination for local holiday makers. It is home ...

for one month, and after passing out they were directly given the

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...

rank. In 1981, 45 females were recruited and were given training of clerical works and exchange operators, this was the first batch of females who were in the rank

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

, the second batch of female privates was taken in the same year who were also given training on clerical duties and also signal duties. In 1984, the fifth batch of female privates was taken, and this batch was given light machine gun training, this was the first batch of the women's corps where weapon training was conducted. In 1987, 8 women were deployed into the Vadamarachchi Operation, this was the first combat operation where women's corps members participated.

Units

Regular

*1st Sri Lanka Army Women’s Corps *7th Sri Lanka Army Women's Corps

Volunteer

*2nd(v) Sri Lanka Army Women’s Corps *3rd(v) Sri Lanka Army Women’s Corps

Notable members

Susanthika Jayasinghe Deshabandu Kameradin Susanthika Jayasinghe (; Tamil: சுசந்திகா ஜயசிங்ஹ, born December 17, 1975) is a Sri Lankan retired sprinter, who specialised in the 100 and 200 metres. She won the Olympic silver medal for t ...

Olympic silver medal An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal to be won: gold, silver, and bronze, awarded to first, second, and third place, respectively. The granting of awards is laid ou ...

winner at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

. * Nadeeka Lakmali - Silver medalist at the Asian Championships and

South Asian Games The South Asian Games is a quadrennial multi-sport event held among athletes from South Asia. The South Asia Olympic Council, which was formed in 1983, governs it. The Games consist of seven countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, N ...

. * Dilhani Lekamge - Silver medalist Asian Championships. * Nadeesha Ramanayake - Gold medalist at the Asian Championships.

Order of precedence

References

External links and sources

Official website
{{Sri Lanka Army Regiments and Corps 1979 establishments in Sri Lanka Women's Corps All-female military units and formations Military units and formations established in 1979 Organisations based in Colombo Women in war in South Asia