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 bod ...
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