Cissy Cooray
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Cissy Cooray, from a 1952 Australian newspaper.
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| Born | 8 June 1889 |
| Died | 6 November 1965 |
| Known for | First woman to be appointed to the Senate of Ceylon (1948) |
Cissy Cooray, OBE (8 June 1889 – 6 November 1965) was a Ceylonese social worker and the first woman to be appointed to the Senate of Ceylon.[1][2]
Cooray was a co-founder of the Lanka Mahila Samitiya in 1931,[3] which has since become the country's largest women's voluntary organisation; she was a member for 35 years and the president for ten years between 1943 and 1953.[1][4] She was considered a pioneer in the field of maternal and child health in Ceylon.[5]
In 1937, Cooray hosted Australian clubwoman Isobel Ritchie, on a visit to see the work of the Social Service League of Colombo.[6]In1941 she was appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for her work in social welfare services in Ceylon.[7] Cooray was also active in the Ceylon Social Service League and the Girl Guide movement.[1] She served a term as president of the All-Ceylon Women's Buddhist Congress.[8]
In 1947 Cooray was appointed as a member of the Senate of Ceylon a position she retained until 1952.[1][9] While in the legislature, she worked for improvements in the food supply and in hospital care, including nurse education in rural areas.[5] "Our island is rich, our people are gay and carefree, but we cannot progress until we wipe out illiteracy and ignorance and disease," she declared in 1951.[10]
In 1950 Cooray attended an international women's conference in Denmark.[11] In 1952, she traveled to Christchurch, New Zealand, for the Pan-Pacific Women's Conference, and with social worker Helen Wickremasinghe to Melbourne, Australia, for a professional seminar on social welfare.[12][13]
Cooray died on 6 November 1965, at the age of 76.[14][15] In 1969, the Senior Citizens Home at the Sri Lankadhara Society was opened in her memory.[16]
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