Women of Cambodia

Alii Holt

Women Studies
Dr. Brown
February 24, 2012

Women of Cambodia

            It’s easy to think that women around the world are treated exactly the same especially since in the United States women have equal rights to men. Most women in the United States are used to growing up knowing these rights.   When it came to women in Cambodia, this is not the case. Believe it or not, women in other countries have to work hard for their survival.  Imagine being forced to leave your country so you can repay a debt that is impossible to repay. Imagine being beaten for the littlest mistake, and having to face the fact that It’s normal to be beaten. Now try to decide between the two choices of living, which is what most women in Cambodia go through every day, sometimes neither are their choices. Women in Cambodia are faced with the threat of prostitution, abuse from men that threaten their lives.

            Cambodia is located in southeastern Asia, between Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. It is a country that is slightly smaller than Oklahoma (The World Factbook). There are different types of ethnic groups in Cambodia, the most common is Khmer (which is also known as Cambodian), and next is Vietnamese, then Chinese (Cambodia). The official religion of Cambodia is Buddhist, and the population is 14,701,717 people (The World Factbook). An interesting fact about Cambodia is that .5% of the adult population will get HIV/AIDS, 63,000 people have HIV/AIDS in Cambodia now. So that means that there is a very high risk of getting a disease, whether it’s HIV, bacterial, malaria, and fever (The World Factbook). Women in Cambodia are known for being trafficked to different countries, so the fact about HIV and AIDS is a number to be concerned about. Women are looked down upon in the Cambodian society, where attitudes are towards a strong male dominate society. Men are seen at the breadwinners of the family and some women are forced to stay at home than work. In a 2005 Cambodia demographic and heath survey, “45 percent believed it was better to educate a son than a daughter, 43 percent thought a married woman should stay at home than go to work and finally 53 percent thought the important decisions of the household should be made by the men of the family” (Eng, Li, Mulsow, Fischer 237-239). This can also be seen in the United States too, but we have started to shift from a male dominated society. Women are allowed to work here, and don’t always have to stay home. One thing that is different from what women do here in the United States, when a Cambodian women breast feeds their babies, they do it differently for each gender. For example for boys they breast feed them longer because it will make them stronger bread winners for the family. For girls, women tend to not breast feed them very long otherwise they will be harder to control when their older (Eng, Li, Mulsow, Fischer 237-239). This theory can come from the fact that men want to try and obtain role as the more dominate sex, and that starts from a very young age.

            With women have fewer privileges in Cambodia that is why it’s easy for them to get abused. “34 percent of Cambodian women were physically abused and never told family or officials about their abuse” (Seager 28-29). Men aren’t the only ones that believe that it’s okay for women to get abused; women themselves think its okay. “48 percent of Cambodian women say it’s acceptable for a husband to beat his wife for one or more specific reasons, such as burning food, arguing with him, going out without telling him, neglecting the children, refusing sex” (Seager 28-29).  This can be caused by the fact; women are seen as inferior compared to men. In Cambodia, “17 percent of married women were abused by their male partner” (Seager 28-29).  With Cambodia being a superior male society, it is hard for women to do anything about being abused, that’s why so many women are in prostitution. Since Cambodia is male-dominated, it’s hard for women to voice their opinions, men have made it this way on purpose. In schools there are books that teach young girls how to act. The Chhab Srey or “Rules for Girls” points out “rules for a perfect girl include talking softly, walking softly without making noise, sitting appropriately with her legs to the side, no screaming or yelling, and obeying and pleasing her husband” (Eng, Li, Mulsow, Fischer 237-239). When it comes to being abused by men, education plays a big role in that too. “Women were more vulnerable to physical and emotional violence when they had fewer years of education than their husbands” (Eng, Li, Mulsow, Fischer 237-239). If women know they are very dependent on their husbands, they will most likely let their husband abuse them.

            Women in Cambodia are known most for their world wide prostitution, or sex workers. Trafficking is very common in Cambodia and is all over, and it involves a wide range of ages for women, including young women. The definition of trafficking by the UN is

“the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person or having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation” (Sandy 216-230).

A very key point of trafficking is debt bondage, which the brothel uses as their advantage toward prostitutions. This is also seen everywhere when it comes to prostitution.  Debt bondage is something that “can hardly be distinguished from traditional slavery because it prevents the victim from leaving his job . . . until the money is repaid. Although in theory a debt is repayable over a period of time, a situation arises where in spite of all his efforts, the borrower cannot wipe it out. Normally, the debt is inherited by the bonded labourer’s children” (Sandy 216-230). A lot of women are forced into the trafficking and prostitution life, brothels like to bribe their workers into staying with them. It varies from threatening their families to threatening their own life. Not only are women trafficked but children are also targeted. “80,000 and 100,000trafficked women and 5,000-15,000 children were involved in sex work in Cambodia” (Sandy 216-230). However, local scientist Tom Steinfatt

“Estimated that the total number of sex workers in Cambodia between 2002 and 2003 was 18,256, with almost 80 per cent of workers urban based. This includes 5,317 directly observed sex workers and an additional estimate of 12,939 unobserved workers. These figures are similar to the estimated number of 14,725 brothel-based sex workers throughout the country” (Sandy 216-230).

            This proves that it really is hard to figure out the total number of prostitutes and trafficked women in Cambodia.  There are young children that are also used in the sex working business, that’s why the total number is so hard to determine. Brothels don’t want officials to know about their business, since it’s illegal. So that is why it’s hard to determine the total number of prostitutes. Not only are women just used as prostitutes in their own country, but they are also moved around to other countries.  There are websites that promote brides to be bought. Cambodian prostitutes are moved from Cambodia to Thailand and Malaysia (Ehrenreich Hochschild 280). Not only are prostitutes moved from Cambodia, they are also moved into the country. The most common are prostitutes from Vietnam which not only travel to Cambodia but also Thailand (Ehrenreich Hochschild 280). Prostitutes are brought all over the country which is something that might be hard to recognize. It’s hard to pinpoint the reasons why one would want to subject to something like prostitution, but some don’t have a choice. Some women are bribed into staying in prostitution because of brothels, while others might be running away from something back home, such as abuse.  Prostitution is a scary thing to get into, not knowing what the brothel will do if the correct amount of money is made. Being run by something more powerful than yourself, is a scary thought.  When put into a situation where your live and family is in danger, one might be pushed to extremes.

            Compared to living in the United States, women in Cambodia have little to no rights in their country. With Cambodia being a male dominant society, it’s hard for women to just stand up for themselves.  For being taught at a young age how to act, it would be something hard to change in the future. Women don’t even have the choice of how they live their lives. Either being shipped away having to sell your body, or having to endure the pain of being abused every day. In a society that is more male based, it’s hard for women to stand up for themselves. Cambodia women live in fear of what will happen next, making sure they do every little thing right. They are forced with the decision of living in ways that effect their lives by either staying in their country to face abuse, or having to subdue to prostitution and risk getting disease, either way is not a way one would want to live their lives.

Works Cited

Ehrenreich, Barbara, and Arlie Hochschild. Global Women. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2004. 280. Print.

Eng, Sothy, Yingli Li, Miriam Mulsow, and Judith Fischer. "Domestic Violence against Women in Cambodia:." Spinger Science. (2009): 237-239. Web. 6 Feb. 2012. http://content.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.mnsu.edu/pdf23_24/pdf/2010/JVI/01Apr10/48082844.pdf?T=P&P=AN&K=48082844&S=R&D=aph&EbscoContent=dGJyMMTo50SeprE4xNvgOLCmr0qep7JSsai4SbSWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMPGqsEiup7BMuePfgeyx44Dt6fIA

Sandy, Larissa. "‘Behind Closed Doors’: Debt-Bonded." Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology. 10.3 (2009): 216-230. Web. 6 Feb. 2012. <http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.mnsu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=9650d4f1-59cb-4324-9bec-205028719cb4@sessionmgr13&vid=5&hid=7>.

Seager, Joni. The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World. 4. New York: Penquin Group, 2009. 28-29. Print.

"The World Factbook." Cambodia. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Feb 2012. <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cb.html>.

"U.S Department of State." Background Note: Cambodia. N.p., August 10, 2011. Web. 6 Feb 2012. <http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2732.htm>.