Background

Cambodia is one of the most impoverished nations in Asia. It has the lowest child survival rate and the lowest caloric consumption in the region as well as the highest human poverty index. Literacy rates hover at 35% and 64% of the people do not have access to safe drinking water. Decades of civil war and violence have had a terrible toll on Cambodian men and women and their development. But the situation is aggravated for women by persistent gender discrimination that begins in the family and is reinforced throughout society. For example, women over age 25 make up 73% of those who have never attended school. Even today, girls as young as 7 or 8 years are expected to take on major responsibilities in the family’s survival activities, including carryin a heavy load of household tasks.