Cambodia-Iran: An occasion to reflect on gender
So wit h polit ics a nd footba l l i next r icably l i nked i n a spor t i ng event t ra nscending its on-t he-f ield signif ica nce, next March’s ret urn f i xture in Phnom Penh presents its own opportunit y to assess t he current state of a f fa irs for t he women residing a lmost 6,000k m away in Cambodia, as wel l as Sout heast
Asia more widely.
Driven by an average growth rate of around eight per cent between 1998 and last year, Cambodia’s economy has remained among the world’s fastest-growing in recent decades.
A key dr iver of t his economic g row t h has been t he ga rment sector, in which some 90 per cent of its 635,000 workers a re women.
Est imates show t hat t he ga rment a nd foot wear sectors lif ted onet hird of t he populat ion out of pover t y bet ween 2007 a nd 2014, while t hese jobs a lso prov ide a va luable source of autonomy for hundreds of t housa nds of women nat ionw ide.
But despite t hese g reat st r ides, pat r ia rcha l st r uct ures remain deeply entrenched in Cambodian societ y – in bot h t he pr ivate a nd public spheres.
Chbab Srey is one such exa mple of t his.
In essence a code of conduct outlining t he idea l concept ion of a Cambodian woman, it was taught i n its ent i ret y as par t of t he nat iona l curr icu lu m as recent ly as 2007.
Fol low ing complaints f rom t he Minist r y of Women’s Af fa irs, some r ules were eliminated, but most a re st i l l taught f rom Grade 7 to Grade 9.
Heav i ly rooted in t radit iona l gender roles, Chbab Srey was described by t he Cambodian Committee of Women (CCW) as “codes of conduct . . . t hat teach women to be subserv ient to men”.
CCW a nd ot her orga nisat ions have a lso sa id t hat t he socia l va lues i nst i l led by Chbab Srey cont r ibute to t he Kingdom’s relat ively hig h levels of spousa l abuse a nd genderbased v iolence (GBV ).
While t he Ca mbodia n gover nment has enacted severa l notable i nit iat ives i n a n at tempt to combat GBV – not lea st t he 2014-2018 Second Nat iona l Act ion Pla n to Prevent Violence Aga i nst Women – t he problem persist s.
According to 2015 stat ist ics f rom t he Nationa l Inst it ute of Stat ist ics at t he Minist r y of Pla nning, a nd t he Minist r y of Women’s Af fa irs, one in f ive Cambodian women reported ex per iencing physica l or sex ua l v iolence f rom a n int imate par t ner.
This is sad ly a Sout heast Asiawide problem, wit h t he reg ion ra nk ing only behind Af r ica in a
2013 World Hea lt h Organisat ion repor t on int imate par t ner v iolence or non-par t ner sex ua l v iolence.
In a n attempt to address t he issue, t he 2016-2025 Asea n Regiona l Pla n of Act ion on t he Elimination of Violence Against Women was adopted in 2015, rea f f irming member states’ obligat ions i n rea l isi ng t he goa l of eliminating v iolence aga inst women.
But just as concerning in t he Kingdom is a culture of v ict imbla ming – in par t att r ibutable to behav ioura l ex pectat ions placed upon women.
A Febr uar y study published by NGOs K la haan, Urban Poor Women Development, a nd People in Need showed t hat a lmost ha lf of t he respondents felt women were at least sometimes to bla me for v iolence committed aga inst t hem by t heir husbands.
Concerningly, the NGOs reported “a strong trend towards perceptions of societa l blame towards sur v ivors of gender-based v iolence”.
Macro level
On a macro level, stat ist ics hig hl ig ht f ur t her a reas of concern.
In t he World Economic For um’s 2018 Globa l Gender Gap Report - a n assessment of gender inequa lit y in t he a reas of hea lt h, educat ion, t he economy a nd politics – Cambodia ra nked 93rd of 149 count r ies.
While t he t rajector y is a slow but steady upward one (in 2017 t he Kingdom was 99t h), last yea r Cambodia ra nked above only Malaysia (101st) i n Asea n.
Wort hy of a n honourable mention is Asea n’s sta nd-out per for mer in t he st udy, t he Phi l ippi nes (eig ht h – above Irela nd, Fra nce, Germany a nd Brita i n).
Female educat iona l atta inment was t he a rea in which t he Kingdom fa red poorest, ra nk ing 119t h of 149.
Cambodia ra nked 111t h in literacy, wit h only 75 per cent of women able to read a nd write. Men fa red not iceably better at 86.5 per cent.
And while 90.3 per cent of g irls enrol led in pr imar y educat ion, only 36.7 per cent went on to seconda r y educat ion (39.9 per cent a mong boys), leav ing Cambodia la ng uishing at 132nd place.
This is, in par t, ex pla ined once aga in by r ig id societa l ex pectat ions placed upon many g irls to accept demanding fa milia l roles f rom a young age.
Economic imperative
But while adva ncing gender parit y is a socia l a nd mora l imperative, it remains a n economic one too.
Poor educat iona l atta inment among Cambodian women is ref lected i n t heir low representat ion a mong sk i l led a nd hig h-ra nki ng jobs – i ncluding senior of f icia ls a nd managers in business (31.8 per cent), law yers (20 per cent), judges (14 per cent), elected commune of f icia ls (20 per cent) a nd parl iamentaria ns (20 per cent).
Wit h t he looming t hreat of Cambodia losing access to t he EU’s
‘Ever y t hing But Arms’ ag reement – which g ra nts f ul l dut y-f ree a nd quota-f ree access to t he EU single market for a l l products except a r ms a nd a rmaments – as well as t he cha nges brought on by t he Fourt h Indust r ia l Revolut ion, t he socia l a nd economic margina lisat ion of v ir t ua l ly 50 per cent of t he populat ion needs urgent addressing.
So come March 31 – with women f ree to at tend t he ret urn f i x t ure aga inst Ira n at Phnom Penh’s
Oly mpic Stadium – Cambodia, as wel l as Sout heast Asia as a whole, would be wise to use t he occasion to ref lect on its own gender dispa r it ies t hat cont i nue to persist.