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CEDAW in Action in Cambodia

The Young Women’s Leadership Programme

 

	(L to R), Siek Bopha, Chor Sreymom and Hourn Ratana at a YWLP meeting. (Photograph by Leigh Pasqual)

It’s Friday, and a group of young women sit excitedly around a conference table. They talk animatedly, laughing and playful as they relate the week’s events and share stories about work and life.

 

But the room soon turns quiet and serious as the meeting of the Young Women’s Leadership Programme (YWLP) network is called to order. Honey Sokry, chair of the network, pulls out the meeting’s agenda and discussions begin in earnest. Read more...

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When Women’s Rights Activists are Men

 

(L to R) Sambath, Im Phanna, and Sopheak.(Photograph by Leigh Pasqual)

In most countries around the world, men are generally a rarity in organizations working on gender equality. There are men of course who actively champion women’s rights, and many are supportive of the empowerment of women, but ‘gender’ is still largely considered the domain of women. Females continue to make up the vast majority of activists working on gender equality issues across the globe.
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Promoting Women’s Participation in Public Decision-Making

 

	Madam Chan Som Na points to recent commune election party lists. (Photograph by Leigh Pasqual)

The commune council office sits back from the dusty street at the top of a steep flight of stairs. The dimly-lit space, which is shared with a local police post, is sparse and unpainted, with only a few tables and chairs. Party lists, with rows and rows of candidates’ names line one wall, indicative of the recent country-wide commune elections that were held in April 2007. Read more...

 

 

 

 

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Challenging Tradition in Cambodia

 

Chanthorn, motodup service provider. (Photograph by Leigh Pasqual)

You’ll see her zipping around town with a passenger riding pillion on her motodup, Cambodia’s local motorbike taxi. Her calling card, which she proudly hands out to passengers, says ‘This is the first motodup service in Phnom Penh provided by a woman!’

 

35-year old Chanthorn is, by her estimate, one of only three female motodup taxi service providers in the whole of Cambodia’s capital city, Phnom Penh. She decided to go into this business several years ago, despite it being a male-dominated profession, and knowing she would face ridicule and opposition from men. She went ahead simply because she didn’t see why she shouldn’t, she says. Read more...

 

 

 

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