Is gender equality achievable in the economic
domain?
Despite gender equality being recognized as a legitimate goal
for humanity and stipulated in the Millennium Development Goals,
progress is still slow, with gender norms and perceptions proving a
challenge in many countries, including Cambodia.
With extensive duties as family and community caretakers, women
have limited opportunities to fully involve themselves in the
economic and political arenas. Their activity in the economic
sphere is usually confined to micro-businesses, an informal sector
where policies and regulations fail to protect the interest of the
economic actors. Moreover, globalization is placing increasing
pressure on the development process worldwide. This creates
additional challenges for women in staying ahead of change and in
ensuring their inclusion in the development process which would
lead to their equal rights to earn a decent living.
Trade, undoubtedly an important aspect of globalization, has
notable impact on growth, employment and business opportunities,
according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD). It influences income distribution between men and women,
and can have significant consequences for social and gender
equality. However, in 2004 the International Labour Organization
and UNCTAD indicated that women are still confined in their role
and position in the economy. Women are offered fewer opportunities
than their male counterparts, with outcomes such as insufficient
participation in the formal labour market, poor conditions of work
and quality of employment, labour division with job stereotypes,
lack of empowerment, inequality of wages for the same job and
difficulty in accessing basic services and resources such as land
and credit.
There are tremendous challenges for increasing women's economic
opportunities, particularly within the context of overall poverty
reduction and development challenges facing Cambodia. But there are
also clear opportunities to respond to these challenges.
A Cambodian proverb states that "Helping women is helping
yourself". Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen incorporated this
message, which highlights the role of women as the backbone of the
national economy and society, in the Government's Rectangular
Strategy 2004-2008. The national policy framework, the gender
policies of donors and the Ministry of Women's Affairs' mandate to
promote the role and status of women in Cambodia all provide
potential entry points for advocacy and action.
From commitments to actions
I don't believe that continuing to implement small economic
projects is the key to success. Isolating women from the
macro-level decision-making process is not an approach holistic
enough to compensate for the scale of challenges in the global
trade arena. New ways of thinking are needed to tackle the issue of
gender equality, particularly in the economic sphere.
We need to update knowledge and communication, set up reliable
data with good analysis, advocate professionally and strongly with
skills, obtain adequate financial support, upgrade the capacity of
women and, most of all, strengthen the structural support to
systematically mainstream women's issues in sectoral domains.
According to my experience, the economic liberation of women,
notably through equal education opportunities, is crucial to
providing equal economic footing since it alleviates so many of the
problems women face. Poverty tends to influence women's condition
more directly.
The development context of Cambodia
Cambodia remains one of the poorest countries in East Asia with
34% of households living below the national poverty line. Over 70%
of households are dependent on agriculture as their primary source
of livelihood, although economic growth has been mainly focused on
export opportunities such as garment manufacturing and tourism. The
nation's qualified human resources are severely depleted.
Rebuilding the institutions, basic services and human capital is
taking time, creating greater concerns within the context of
market-oriented economy and globalization. An increasing youth
population presents new challenges in terms of employment
opportunities, with 60% of the total population now under the age
of 25.
Gender inequalities exist due to tradition and gender norms that
assign women a lower status than men, as well as the legacies of
war which may be contributing to an increasingly high level of
violence.
Women in the economy of Cambodia
The labour force participation rate for women in Cambodia is
very high by regional standards, with 71% of all women aged 15 and
older in the workforce. Women comprise nearly half the labour force
(49.4%), however 83% of female workers are self-employed or unpaid
family workers. Over half of the poor are women living in rural
areas. There are clear gender differences in occupations and
industries, with a move from agriculture to industry and services
for both men and women. Apart from agriculture, the primary
occupations for women living outside the capital Phnom Penh are
trade (42%) and manufacturing (30%, mostly in home-based
production).
However, household work and childcare, along with a low level of
literacy and education, make it difficult for many women to enter
the labour market.
The following is a summary of the recommendations of the
Ministry for Women's Affairs (MWA) and its interventions in trade
policy development, which ensure that women are considered at all
levels of government policy.
Macro-level interventions
Gender-responsive policy in trade sector
development As a country in
transition, Cambodia is in the process of implementing the legal
frameworks and administrative measures needed to move to a modern
and democratic state. Efforts are under way to shift from
project-oriented planning to longer-term sectoral strategies and
results-based programming and budgeting. Each of these reforms
provides opportunities for ensuring that gender concerns are taken
into consideration.
The MWA has actively engaged with senior policymakers and
cultivated high-level support to raise the profile of gender
equality as a national priority, marking it as the responsibility
of line ministries.
Gender responsive measures have been integrated into many
chapters of the National Strategic Development Plan 2006-2010. Key
gender indicators are reflected to include equity for women
employed in agriculture, industry and services, and poverty
reduction is central to the Government's efforts.
Mainstreaming gender into the effectiveness of
aid
There is a gradual shift to Programme-Based Approaches (PBAs) to
sectoral planning and resource allocation in Cambodia, including an
anticipated PBA for trade. It is important that gender dimensions
are fully taken into consideration in their development. The MWA
has been actively advocating for
donors to pay greater attention to gender concerns in specific
programmes, which in turn has strengthened the incentives for
government institutions to be more gender-responsive. The effective
inclusion of a gender specialist in a recent planning mission for
the Cambodia Public Financial Management Reform Programme provided
an example of how a gender perspective can be integrated into
planning processes.
The MWA supported the establishment and operation of a Technical
Working Group on Gender, as part of the Government-Donor
Consultative process, and of Gender Mainstreaming Action Groups
(GMAGs) in line ministries responsible for economic policy,
including the Ministry of Commerce (MoC), Ministry of Industry,
Mines and Energy (MIME), Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training
(MLVT), Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) and
Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology (MWRAM).
Table 1.
The positioning of 19 trade sectors according to their export
potential and human development impact
Statistics and gender analysis
Good statistics, research and analysis are essential to
identifying gender concerns objectively. The MWA has actively
worked with the National Institute of Statistics to ensure that
national surveys provide the information needed to understand the
contributions, roles and constraints of women and men in the
economy. The Cambodia Gender Assessment has been an important tool
for identifying priorities for advocacy and action.
The MWA is also encouraging increased investment in the capacity
for gender analysis, research and advocacy. If equipped with the
right attitudes and skills, sectoral experts could undertake gender
analysis within their own area of expertise and would be well
placed to formulate technically sound responses to gender
inequalities.
Meso-level interventions
Advocacy for specific policies and
programmes The MWA is an active
advocate for pro-poor and gender-responsive trade. For example, by
contributing to an MoC workshop on globalization and the Integrated
Framework for Trade-related Technical Assistance in 2001, the MWA
helped to attract support for the development of the silk and
handicraft industries. A Silk Sector Strategy has since been
developed with ITC support, which shares responsibility for
implementation between the MoC, MAFF and MWA.
The same year, the MWA organized a national workshop, Women and
Promoting Micro and Small Enterprise Development, with support from
the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The workshop stimulated interest
within MIME in formulating a development framework for small to
medium-sized enterprises, which is now helping to create a more
conducive business environment for their development.
The MWA is also an active advocate for strengthening the policy
framework to support safe migration, working in close consultation
with the MLVT. This is important for both labour export and
internal migration related to industrial development, particularly
in export promotion zones.
The MWA has also represented women's interests in trade-related
policy formation and was asked to provide a gender perspective
during the process of Cambodia's candidature to become a member of
the World Trade Organization.
Integrating gender considerations into the
identification of trade sector development priorities
Cambodia's 2007 Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS)
included the "impact on employment of women" as part of the
socio-economic impact index used to assess opportunities for export
development.
Three of the 19 products and services assessed in the 2007 DTIS
are particularly important for women (see Table 1). In the garment
and footwear industries, which accounted for 70% of total exports
and 16% of gross domestic product in 2006, 80% of employees are
women. And silk weaving and silk products, despite having
relatively low export potential at this time, have medium to high
human development impact, with particular importance for women.
Over 70% of households are dependent on the agricultural
industry for their primary source of livelihood, with particularly
high involvement of women at the processing levels. Tourism has
been the second most important source of economic growth in
Cambodia in recent years, yet relatively little is known about the
industry's socio-economic impact or the gender distribution of work
and benefits. Further study is needed.
Supporting gender mainstreaming in line
ministries
Gender workshops, jointly organized by MWA and GMAGs, have
helped to broaden understanding of gender concerns within the scope
of ministries' mandates. Training needs to go beyond
awareness-raising and challenge participants to think more deeply
about social norms that are perpetuating gender inequalities, how
this relates to their own lives, and the tangible actions that are
needed to achieve greater gender equality within trade-related
services and institutions.
The MWA has also been assisting line ministry GMAGs to develop
Gender Mainstreaming Action Plans. The MoC and MIME gender plans
both identify programmatic areas for development, including
building the capacity, skills and confidence of women in the
informal economy, increasing women's access to microfinance;
promoting registration of women-owned businesses; and increasing
women's access to information on productivity, trade and
services.
The MAFF and MWRAM gender action plans for agriculture and water
recognize the need to enhance the productive role of women in
agricultural development; empower women to fully benefit from
governmental assistance programmes; provide their own
"food-security safety nets" such as rice banks; and represent their
own interests in political and administrative environments. They
are working towards improving women's access to irrigation and
strengthening overall participation in water management.
Priority is also given to strengthening women's capacity,
skills, confidence and opportunities for participation in aspects
of ministries' work.
Micro-level interventions
Collaboration between the MWA and trade-related line
ministries Cambodia's Silk Sector
Strategy is helping to strengthen the competitiveness of
enterprises in the silk sector across the value chain by improving
the quality and productivity of silk weavers. The MWA is a
representative of the MoC-led steering committee.
Collaborative efforts have also included work with MoC and the
ADB on mitigating against the impact of the end of the Cambodian
Multi-Fibre Agreement; implementing the one-village, one-product
policy, including assessing regional know-how, skills and market
potential, and strengthening market access and productivity; and
leading an inter-ministerial taskforce on beer promoters to protect
the rights, dignity and safety of female beer promoters.
MWA strategic actions
It is sometimes necessary to demonstrate what needs to be done
and how. The MWA takes the lead in developing services that are not
yet a priority of line ministries. This has included transforming
traditional skills-training centres into women-friendly enterprise
development services and one-stop business registration centres;
supporting local partners in organizing associations of women
entrepreneurs to increase their bargaining power and voice in
public-private forums; introducing village-based food processing
technologies; and facilitating links between village-based
producers and urban markets. In one instance, a market was
developed at a border crossing into Thailand in order to increase
livelihood alternatives for women with concerns about the risk of
trafficking. The Ministry of Tourism subsequently used this as a
model for another market in a beach resort area.
Statistics suggest an estimated 80% of the workforce is in the
informal sector of the economy, contributing 62% of gross domestic
product, so the MWA has invited the assistance of a team from an
international advocacy non-governmental organization, Women in
Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing. In response, the
Government has committed to establishing an inter-ministerial
taskforce to examine the informal economy and ease the transition
for those wishing to move into formal employment, with all of the
concomitant economic benefits.
"Men are gold and women are precious
gems"(Cambodian proverb)
Women are involved in every facet of the economy and, in
Cambodia at least, they are the backbone of economic prosperity and
development. Opportunities for their economic development are
numerous.
When women have the chance to be educated and the freedom to
work in whatever fields they choose, their ownership will create
economic opportunities that contribute to their own prosperity and
the growth and development of the country. Gender equality is also
a deed in good governance, providing equal opportunity to both men
and women and enabling both genders to support sustainable growth
and development.
Before acceding to the benefits of trade presented to them,
women have many challenges to face. We need to raise awareness of
policy- and decision-makers to foster a business environment
conducive to poverty reduction and broad-based economic growth;
enable women to equitably benefit from new employment
opportunities; strengthen legal enforcement mechanisms to equitably
protect the rights of male and female workers; and strengthen the
capacity of women to equitably contribute to and benefit from
economic growth.
A fair share in the economic sphere can only come from letting
women contribute to policy development. The result will be a
win-win situation that will enhance economic competitiveness and
productivity, leading to the empowerment of not only women, but the
whole nation.
Dr Kantha Phavi Ing
Dr Ing left Cambodia at a young age during the civil
war, and went on to study in Paris where she graduated as a medical
doctor, with a specialization in nutrition. She then gained a
master's degree in public administration from the French Ecole
nationale d'administration (National administration school). While
practising medicine in Paris, she was deputy secretary general of
the Cambodian doctors' association, whose objective was to provide
medical assistance to Cambodia.
Twenty years after leaving Cambodia, Dr Ing returned as part of
a medical mission to a remote area in the north of the country. She
realized that her skills could be of greater use to the Cambodian
people. She returned for good two years later, but with no thoughts
of becoming involved in either politics or women's issues. Now,
however, she has worked for the Government of Cambodia for more
than ten years and was recently reappointed for a second mandate as
Minister for Women's Affairs.
MINISTRY FOR WOMEN'S AFFAIRS INTERVENTIONS IN TRADE
POLICY DEVELOPMENT
- Macro-level interventions
Advocating for gender-responsive policy in trade sector
development
Mainstreaming gender into the effectiveness of aid Obtaining
sex-disaggregated statistics and gender analysis
- Meso-level interventions
Advocating for specific policies and programmes
Integrating gender considerations into the identification of
trade-sector development priorities
Supporting gender mainstreaming in line ministries
- Micro-level interventions
Collaborating with trade-related line ministries
Presenting strategic actions to assist women
Glossary to key acronyms
MWA - Ministry for Women's Affairs GMAG - Gender
Mainstreaming Action Group
MoC - Ministry of Commerce
MIME - Ministry of Industry, Mines and
Energy
MLVT - Ministry of Labour and Vocational
Training
MAFF - Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries
MWRAM - Ministry of Water, Resources and
Meteorology
PBA - Programme-Based Approach
ADB - Asian Development Bank
DTIS - Diagnostic Trade Integration
Study