Cambodia

The Kingdom of Cambodia is located in mainland southeast Asia. Its ethnic population groups include the majority Khmer as well as Vietnamese, Cham, and Chinese. Buddhism is the predominant religion, but there are also Christians and Muslims. There is a strong emphasis on kinship, marriage, and family. Women enjoy full legal and political equality, but their access to the highest political and economic positions is restricted by traditional views. Many also suffer from violence, poverty, and inadequate living conditions. Cambodia ranked 104 of 134 countries in the World Economic Forum's 2009 Global Gender Gap Report.

Marriage and family are the social norm. Arranged marriages are common, but children are not obligated to accept their chosen partners. Society is hierarchical and one's status plays a significant role in one's choice. The practice of paying bride wealth is also still common. Polygamy was legally outlawed in 1993, but mistresses or additional wives remain common and socially acceptable. The 2009 fertility rate was 3.2 births per woman. Forty percent of married women use contraceptives. A skilled healthcare practitioner is present at less than half of all births. The 2009 infant mortality rate stood at 65 per 1,000 live births, and the maternal mortality rate stood at 540 per 100,000 live births. Employers provide 90 days’ paid maternity leave at 50 percent of wages.

Most families are nuclear but other family arrangements are common as well. Husbands and wives jointly make most major household decisions, although deference to males is still evident in practices such as the preparation and serving of meals. Family subsistence farming predominates in rural areas. Both genders participate in family subsistence farming with tasks traditionally divided by gender. Women's household and farming responsibilities include transplanting, laundry, mending, house-cleaning, marketing, and overseeing family finances. Such labor divisions are not always strictly followed. Domestic violence rates are high and rural village women have little legal protection. Divorce is possible but socially carries a stigma.

Most girls receive a primary-level education but few receive additional education. Female school attendance rates are 87 percent at the primary level, [Page 213]32 percent at the secondary level, and 4 percent at the tertiary level. As a result, a gender gap exists between literacy rates, with females attaining only a 67 percent rate, compared to 86 percent for men. Cambodian culture places great emphasis on social etiquette that dictates personal interactions based on status, familiarity, and gender. Traditional codes govern behavior and those for women are strict. Public physical contact between genders is largely taboo. Trafficking in women and children for the sex trade is a problem. Most live in poverty and life expectancy is low-age 49 for women and age 46 for men.

A meeting in a village commons in the Takeo province of Cambodia. Women are slowly expanding their role in politics.

Seventy-seven percent of women participate in the labor force. Women comprise 44 percent of paid the nonagricultural workforce and 33 percent of professional and technical workers. Key employers are wet rice agriculture, tourism, artisan crafts, and a small, undeveloped industrial sector. Women teach at all educational levels, but most are at the primary level. Foreign-owned garment factories that produce clothing for export are increasingly common and employ a mostly female workforce. Garment workers often work in poor conditions for low wages. A gender gap still exists in terms of average estimated earned income, which stands at $1,392 for women and $1,858 for men.

...