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Based on personal interviews, Pathways to the Peak pays tribute to 14 visionary and groundbreaking Sri Lankan women. Shalini and Dinusha Panditaratne, a mother-daughter team, highlight the remarkable journeys of these pioneers of the engineering, business, legal, medical, sports and other fields. Among the profiled women are household names like Barbara Sansoni, Jezima Ismail, Rohini Nanayakkara and Vajira Dias, as well as some unsung heroines.

 This is a book to inspire the next generation of women in Sri Lanka and beyond. Written with warmth and sensitivity, and complemented by photographs from the private collections of the profiled individuals, Pathways to the Peak will enchant anyone interested in the making of Sri Lanka in its broadest sense.

The book is published by the Bay Owl Press, an imprint of the Perera Hussein Publishing House. Costs were generously sponsored by Finlays Colombo PLC and Standard Chartered Bank, Sri Lanka. 100% of the net proceeds from sales of the book will be donated to charities benefiting women, namely to CCC Foundation Sri Lanka and Sahanaya-National Council for Mental Health.

Advance Praise for “Pathways to the Peak”

This rich collection of stories celebrates the courage, perseverance and achievement of fourteen extraordinary Sri Lankan women who made it to the top in our yet unequal world. They confirm the truth that ‘paths are made by walking’. The book is truly a labour of love and achievement. BRADMAN WEERAKOON

Straddling a century of social change, this insightful book provides fascinating vignettes of 14 amazing Sri Lankan women, and the creativity, courage and commitment that led each of these pioneers along their individual “pathways to the peak” in an essentially male dominated world.

DR. ANILA DIAS BANDARANAIKE

 About the Authors
Dinusha Panditaratne
Dinusha is an adjunct professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where she teaches constitutional law. Born in Sri Lanka, she spent her secondary school years in Sydney, Australia where she was educated at North Sydney Girls’ High School. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Oxford and her postgraduate studies at Yale Law School. She is an attorney admitted to the Bar of the State of New York. Dinusha lives in Hong Kong with her husband and two young children.

Shalini Panditaratne
Shalini grew up in Sri Lanka, and received her secondary education at Ladies’ College, Colombo. She is qualified as a Chartered Accountant, Sri Lanka and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, UK. Upon migrating to Australia in 1985, she began a long career with JP Morgan Chase Bank in the Asia-Pacific region, rising to the position of Head of Country Credit in Singapore and later in Thailand. Shalini now resides in Colombo with her husband.