Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne said today that the decision to reimpose the ban on selling to women was made based on the fact that 90 percent of women in villages do not consume alcohol. 

"The large majority of women are in villages and they don't consume alcohol. In fact, they despise the use of alcohol," Senaratne said, addressing the weekly Cabinet briefing, today. 

"They don't see this new gazette as a requirement. That's why we revoked it," Senaratne said, while responding to questions posed by journalists. 

The Sri Lankan government has come under severe criticism for reenacting a 60 year old law on banning the sale of alcohol to women. the legislation was reimposed after Finance and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera signed a gazette revising it. 

Even some prominent members of the government criticized the decision saying it promoted gender-based discrimination. Despite such criticism, the Cabinet of ministers made a unanimous decision yesterday to make the sale of alcohol to women illegal.