More and Betters of Jobs for Cambodian Women

Social & Economic Policies; & Law

Sreymom Sum RDTA National Consultant
The views expressed in this paper are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), or its Board of Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this paper and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The countries listed in this paper do not imply any view on ADBs part as to sovereignty or independent status or necessarily conform to ADBs terminology.

OUTLINE

Introduction
Key Findings Conclusion and Recommendations References
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INTRODUCTION
Education

Figure 1: Persons Aged 25 and Over by Educational Attainment and Sex in 2010 (%)

33.1 24.7 14.8

40.4 38.3 35.7

24.9 16.5 20.3 13.6 6.4 9.7
Lower secondary completed

Women Men Both sexes

7.3 3.6 2.5 4.7 1.1 2.2 0.0 0.1 0.0

Upper secondary completed Postsecondary education Other

Primary school not completed

Source: CSES 2010 (NIS/MOP)

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Primary school completed

None or only some education

INTRODUCTION
Occupations
Table 1: Average Monthly Earnings from Main Economic Activity in 2009 (Status of Employees) Ratio Male Female Male Female female to Occupation earnings earnings (%) (%) male (riels) (riels) earnings

Legislators, senior officials and managers Professionals Technicians and associate professionals Clerks Service workers and shop and market sales workers Skilled agricultural and fishery workers Craft and related trade workers Plant and machine operators and assemblers Elementary occupations Armed forces

81.6 62 70.2 62.9 33.7 50.7 42.3 91.1 56.1 93.8

18.4 38 29.8 37.1

329,980 553,589 767,718 610,702

233,910 406,659 491,017 560,862

0.71 0.73 0.64 0.92 0.79 0.94 0.74 0.58 0.68 1.00
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66.3 356,925 282,616 49.3 226,052 213,214 57.7 384,987 285,315 8.9 458,427 266,302 43.9 267,932 182,770 6.2 432,065 432,465

Source: CSES 2009 (NIS/MOP, 2010) estimated in ILO (2011) Decent Work Country Profile

IMPORTANT POLICY PROVISIONS

Which Can Assist Womens Employment
The key overarching policy on economic development within:

Rectangular Strategy: Promoting private-sector growth and

employment development

The National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) update 2009-2013: To enhance private-sector development and
employment

Sectoral and Sub-sectoral Policies:

- Trade & Investment - Employment Enterprises - Migration - Agriculture - Tourism - Micro, Small, Medium Business - Youth - Social Security and Health

Most important policy is the Neary Rattanak III (2009-2013):

Economic Empowerment of Women

The overall employment strategy in Cambodia is presently contained within the combination of the Rectangular Strategy, the 6

LEGAL FRAMEWORK
On Employment

In general the Law on Labor in Conjunction with provisions in the Constitution and various Prakas and Announcements relating to employment, provide a sound basis on which to build legal protections to support women. Much of this has been developed with the assistance of the ILO

International Framework

Cambodia has enshrined many of the fundamental human rights contained in international covenants and ILO conventions

National Framework

Hierarchy of laws Labor Rights & Protections

KEY FINDINGS
Employment Rural Women

Women comprise the majority of rural workers, mostly unpaid

Rural women are at a disadvantage in their efforts to improve productivity in farm jobs and non-farm employment
They receive less extension services Limited access to credit

Limitations on women owning land, particularly women who head of households,

Land law includes measures to ensure rights of women at law but low levels of literacy can limit their access to entitlements Often lack information about markets and technology Needs of rural women should be specifically addressed, preferably as part of a suite of measures to designed to reduce poverty

KEY FINDINGS

Accessing Childcare Services

Most of the female labor population are in agriculture They also engage in informal economy , employed own account & unpaid family workers The major constraints of women entering or continuing to work in labor markets are:
Domestic responsibilities Social norms Low income

A particular constraint is the burden of childcare and accessing childcare services, after maternity leave and also for working mothers. Eg.:
formal economy sector - stop or postpone working informal sectors, and also, women migrants who work in urban areas, stop certain economic activities, send babies back to village, or bring to workplace

KEY FINDINGS
Training for Work, Social Security, & Health

Vocational and technical training offered by the public sector to women is basically confined to traditional womens skills (Eg: sewing, hairdressing and beauty-maintenance related skills Women were more likely to be enrolled in public primary short-term training compared to men, who were more likely to be engaged in longer term and technical programs Cambodia has faced many challenges in relation to social protection concerning basic health and education One of the major problems has been the lack of protection for informal workers who are not covered by the Labor Law and therefore cannot rely on the Law on Social Security Schemes for

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CONCLUSION

The Cambodian government has identified a number of prioritised policies, strategies, and targets in order to address the needs of women related to such as employment, education, health, security, gender equity, and reducing gender inequality The essential problems for women are not with the policies, but the lack of implementation, due in part to a lack of coordination, failure of a specific ministry to have ultimate responsibility for the implementation, the need to take a programmed approach as well as limitations of funds The commitment of the development partners to assist with these tasks by taking a capacity building approach with the government ministries is a vital key to achieving real outcomes for women, using a more programme based approach

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RECOMMENDATIONS
Overall
Overall strategy: to better identify the link between

Trade policies Employment policies Education and training programmes

With specific strategies To increase the scope of coverage of workers under the Law of labor to include e.g. domestic and household workers The implementation of the NSVP-PV in conjunction with further improvement of the National Social Security Fund will offer real assistance for women, but is will require regular monitoring and assessment to ensure that they adequately benefit from the advancement which are anticipated
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RECOMMENDATIONS
Specific

Promoting and expanding decent work in the formal sector

Review legal gaps which negatively affect the safety and healthy working conditions Pass legislation to govern, manage and protect oversea migrant workers Accelerate Enhancement of gender equality in educational attainment Diversify training programmes

Promoting decent work in the informal sector

The government to focus on the informal sector to inform them the benefits of organising themselves so as to provide a means of having representation when their rights are violated

Enforcing and improving employment policy

Strengthen the budget and work of Labor Inspectors to enable them to carry out their roles and duties to full effect
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RECOMMENDATIONS
Employment for Rural Women

Requires a combined strategy for the government, supporting agencies and Farmer Organisations (FOs), much falls on Government The government needs to develop specific credit policies and services to ensure that women and female-headed households can access credit Improve infrastructure, particularly in remote areas and poorer communities, by providing adequate roads, water supplies, fuel supplies, and electricity To hasten the land registration strategy to enable women to enforce the right

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RECOMMENDATIONS
Childcare Services

Extending a requirement for workplaces above certain sizes to

provide child care centres nursery rooms inside the work place or to provide child care services for them

Provide Government funded or partly funded day-care centres in urban areas to be well operated and located near working places Government to assist cooperatives of women in rural areas to employ local trained persons to care for children in the village or in the locality of work.

MoLVT to ensure implementation and enforcement of Labor Law provisions on child care services for female employees
The MoEYS to improve the early child education programme to provide good quality of day-care centres and kindergartens in both urban and rural areas

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SELECTIVE REFERENCES
Eng Netra and Sin Sovann (2007), Where Did all the Day Cares Go? A gender Analysis of Day Care Needs in Relation to Time Poverty and Employment Opportunities for Poor Women (Phnom Penh: MoWA) International Labour Organization (2012), Decent Work Country Programme Cambodia (2011-2015) (Phnom Penh: ILO) Kem Sothorn (2010), Policy Options for Vulnerable Groups: Income Growth and Social Protection (Phnom Penh: CDRI) Lay Samkol (2008), The Political Economy of the One Village One Product Movement and Its Implications for Cambodia Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training and International Labour Organization (2010), Policy on Labour Migration for Cambodia (Phnom Penh: MoLVT and ILO) Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (2010), Annual Report 2009 (Phnom Penh: MoLVT) Ministry of Women Affairs (2008), A Fair Share For Women: Cambodia Gender Assessment (Phnom Penh: MoWA) Ministry of Womens Affairs (2009), Five Year Strategic Plan 2009-2013, Neary Rattanak III (Phnom Penh: MoWA) National Institute of Statistics and Directorate General for Health (2010), Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey (CDHS) 2010 (Phnom Penh: NIS, Ministry of Planning, and DGH, Ministry of Health) National Institute of Statistics and International Labour Organization (2010), Labour and Social Trends in Cambodia 2010 (Phnom Penh: NIS/ILO) Royal Government of Cambodia (2011), National Social Protection Strategy for the Poor and Vulnerable (Phnom Penh: Council for Agricultural and Rural Development) Royal Government of Cambodia (2010), National Strategic Development Plan Update 2009-2013 (Phnom Penh: Royal Government of Cambodia) Royal Government of Cambodia (2011), Mid-term Review 2011 on National Strategic Development Plan Update 2009-2013 (Phnom Penh: Ministry of Planning) Sok Somith (2011), Study on the Employability of Rural Women Training Participants in Womens Development Centers (Phnom Penh: MoWA, ILO, & better factories) 16 UNDP (2011), NSDP/CMDGs) Monitoring Support Programme, Factsheet September 2011, National Strategic

THANK YOU

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