Sri Lanka’s women between the ages of 20-40 are most likely to be unemployed because hiring them is expensive for the private sector, mostly because employers have to bear the full cost of maternity leave benefits (MLB) Verité Research has found.

Verité, a Colombo based think tank and research body said that this is a problem unique “in terms of opportunities for young women to effectively participate and contribute to the labour force.”
 
Dr Nishan de Mel, head of Verité said they discovered the issue during research into finding solutions to reduce youth unemployment in the country.

https://economynext.com/sri-lankan-women-discriminated-against-because-of-mat-leave-benefits-verite-74317/