Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala
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Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala (, born 3 September 1979) is a Sri Lankan women’s rights activist with 20 years of experience and a rock climber / mountaineer for nearly as long. She has worked at national, regional, and global levels as a technical advisor, advocate, trainer, researcher, and program manager on issues relating to gender, gender-based violence, sexuality, masculinity, women’s human rights, and more recently, women in sports. In 2016, she became the first Sri Lankan to summit Mount Everest. In recognition of this achievement, from 2016-2019 she was appointed the Goodwill Ambassador for Women's Rights by the Sri Lankan Ministry of Women's Affairs. In 2017, she was also included in the BBC’s list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world. In 2023, she was the recipient of th
International Olympic Committee’s Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Champions Award for AsiaThe National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOC SL)
. Since returning from Everest, she has delivered over 500 motivational speeches, to schools, universities, clubs, professional sports teams, corporate entities, government, and non-governmental organizations, as well as the military and police. She is currently the Gender and Human Rights Advisor at the Family Planning Association in Sri Lanka, working to address stigma and discrimination faced by people seeking HIV services, and is a co-creator of ‘Delete Nothing’ – a local web-based initiative aimed at addressing online gender-based violence in Sri Lanka. Jayanthi serves on several boards and is the current Chairperson of the Women and Media Collective and the International Centre for Ethnic Studies. She is also a trustee of the ‘Women of the World Foundation’, a UK-based charity. Jayanthi holds an MA in Gender Studies from the University of Sussex (UK) and a post graduate diploma in Women’s Studies from the University of Colombo. For more details, find her on LinkedIn.


Biography

Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala was born on 3 September 1979 in
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 ...
. Her father Nissanka is a mechanical engineer and her mother Jacinta was a manager in the hospitality industry. Her elder brother Rukshan attended the
S. Thomas' College Saint Thomas or St. Thomas may refer to: People * Thomas the Apostle (died AD 72), Jewish-Christian follower of Jesus and evangelist * Thomas the Hermit, Coptic Desert Father and Saint of the 4th century * Thomas of Maurienne or Thomas of Farf ...
in
Mount Lavinia Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia (; ), population 245,974 (2012), is a large municipality in Sri Lanka, covering . It lies south of the Colombo Municipal Council area and is separated from it by the Dehiwala canal which forms the northern boundary of DMMC ...
. She was described as a fearless person at her young age by her brother.


Career

Kuru-Utumpala joined Bishop's College in 1984 for her primary education and also pursued her secondary education at the same school until 1998. After finishing her schooling, she joined the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute in 1999 to pursue a diploma in journalism and communication. She joined the
Miranda House Miranda House is a constituent college for women at the University of Delhi in India. Established in 1948, it is one of the top ranked colleges of the country and ranked number 1 for consecutively seven years (as of 2023). History Miranda ...
of the
Delhi University The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...
in 2000 and obtained her BA degree in
English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...
in 2003. She also completed the military style 28-day Basic Course in Mountaineering and the 28-day Advanced Course in Mountaineering from the
Himalayan Mountaineering Institute The Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI Darjeeling) was established in Darjeeling, India on 4 November 1954 to encourage mountaineering as an organized sport in India. History The first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953 by Tenzing Norgay and ...
in 2003 and 2004 respectively. She obtained a post graduate diploma in 2007 in women's studies from the
University of Colombo The University of Colombo (informally Colombo University or UoC) is a Public University, public research university located primarily in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is the oldest institution of modern higher education in Sri Lanka. Specialised in t ...
. Kuru-Utumpala won a scholarship to study at the
University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...
in UK and obtained her
Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...
degree in
gender studies Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field n ...
in 2009. She performed research on
women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...
while pursuing her higher studies and has also has given motivational speeches aimed at empowering schoolgirls. Since 2003, she has been a key member of Sri Lanka's women's movement, as well as a part of Women and Media Collective. She served as a specialist in gender and sexuality at
Care International CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, formerly Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe) is a major international humanitarian agency delivering emergency relief and long-term international development projects. Founded i ...
Sri Lanka in April 2015. In 2016, she was appointed as the first goodwill ambassador for women's rights in Sri Lanka by the then Minister of Women's Affairs, Chandrani Bandara Jayasinghe. In 2017, she wrote about her own personal experience of receiving a rare public platform to challenge gender stereotypes in an article title
"After Everest: can mountaineering tackle gender myths in Sri Lanka?"
As part of her feminist activism, together with two other colleagues, she recently co-create
Delete Nothing
- an online platform aimed at documenting technology-related violence in Sri Lanka. Kuru-Utumpala teamed up with Johann Peries in 2011 and has worked with him in several successful expeditions, including summitting
Adam's Peak Adam's Peak is a conical sacred mountain located in central Sri Lanka.Capper, Daniel (2022), ''Roaming Free Like a Deer: Buddhism and the Natural World,'' Cornell University Press. It is well known for the ''Sri Pada'' (; ), a rock formati ...
, Island Peak in 2012,
Mount Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, at above sea level and above its plateau base. It is also the highest volcano i ...
in 2014, and her historic summit of
Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...
in 2016. As an avid rock climber, she has also been rock climbing in Paarl Rocks in
Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronouncing Gazetteer.
Thomas Baldwin ...
, South Africa, Arneles Mendoza in
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
, the
Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...
in
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, Saxony Switzerland in Germany, in addition to climbing at her local crag at ClimbLanka in Horana. In February 2019, Kuru-Utumpala and Peries officially signed as
brand ambassador A brand ambassador (sometimes also called a corporate ambassador) is a person paid by an organization or company to represent its brand in a positive light, helping to increase brand awareness and sales. The brand ambassador is meant to embody the ...
s of the
Hatton National Bank Hatton National Bank PLC (commonly abbreviated as HNB) is a private bank in Sri Lanka with 255 branches and 825 ATMs. The bank traces its origin to 1888 when Hatton Bank commenced its operations in Hatton, Sri Lanka Hatton (, ) is a major to ...
.


Everest expedition

From 2012 Kuru-Utumpala and Peries trained to summit Everest and participated in various recreational activities, such as swimming and climbing. In April 2016, the duo announced that they were on a mission to climb Mount Everest. They formed the Sri Lankan Everest Expedition campaign, 2016. The expedition, which cost around
US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
60,000, per person, was supported by the
mountaineering Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become mounta ...
company International Mountain Guides, who provided them with guide support, Sherpa support, logistics, meals, and accommodation during their expedition. Kuru-Utumpala and Peries were accompanied by Nepalese
Sherpas The Sherpa people () are one of the Nepalese ethnic groups native to the most mountainous regions of Nepal, India, and the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China. The majority of Sherpas live in the eastern regions of Nepal, namely the Solukhum ...
Ang Karma (Kuru-Utumpala) and Ang Pasang (Peries). Kuru-Utumpala reached the summit of Mount Everest successfully at 5:03 a.m. on 21 May 2016, while Peries was not able to complete the feat, as his oxygen tank failed before the summit. Peries attained a height of , which is beyond Camp IV (the final camp on the southern ascent route, on the
South Col The South Col is a col between Mount Everest and Lhotse, the highest and fourth-highest mountains in the world, respectively. The South Col is typically swept by high winds, leaving it free of significant snow accumulation. Since 1950 (when Tibe ...
). Kuru-Utumpala went on to become the first Sri Lankan as well as first and only Sri Lankan woman to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. Kuru-Utumpala's summit also made Sri Lanka the fourth country in the world after
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
,
Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
and
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
, from which a woman was the first person to reach the top of Mount Everest.


Honors

Kuru-Utumpala obtained a special award from TV channel
Ada Derana TV Derana a Sri Lankan private entertainment terrestrial television channel broadcasting in Sri Lanka. Launched on 11 October 2005, it is one of the most popular television networks in the country. Its main transmission tower is on the Kikili ...
as a part of the
Ada Derana Sri Lankan of the Year Ada Derana Sri Lankan of the Year (Sinhala: අද දෙරණ වසරේ ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයා) is an annual award presented to Sri Lankans who have raised Sri Lanka's profile in the international arena through their care ...
in 2016. She was also included in the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
's list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2017. In March 2019, she was named as one of the most influential women, and among women change-makers in Sri Lanka, by the
Parliament of Sri Lanka The Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ''Śrī Laṇkā Pārlimentuvā'', Tamil: இலங்கை நாடாளுமன்றம் '' ...
coinciding with
International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March, commemorating women's fight for equality and liberation along with the women's rights movement. International Women's Day gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive righ ...
. In August 2019, she was one of the 66 recipients to receive national honors for 2019 from the Sri Lankan President
Maithripala Sirisena Maithripala Yapa Sirisena (; ; born 3 September 1951) is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the seventh president of Sri Lanka from 9 January 2015 to 18 November 2019. Sirisena is Sri Lanka's first president from the North Central Province, S ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuru-Utumpala, Jayanthi 1979 births Living people Sinhalese women Summiters of Mount Everest Sri Lankan feminists Sri Lankan activists Sri Lankan rock climbers Sri Lankan mountain climbers Alumni of the University of Sussex Alumni of the University of Colombo Alumni of Bishop's College, Colombo People from Colombo Sri Lankan LGBTQ rights activists Sri Lankan female climbers Miranda House alumni