‘Gender Cafe’ Offers Women a Place to Express Themselves
Busy juggling jobs, children, and housework, Cambodian women do not have the time, or platforms, to discuss bigger women-related issues like abuse, migration and forced eviction. And that is why a new initiative, called “Gender Cafe,” aims to change that by giving local women a safe and welcoming environment to get together and talk. “Having a women-only cafe is very important, because men and women don’t always have the same opportunities to leave the home for socializing,” said Ros Sopheap, executive director of the Gender and Development Organization of Cambodia, which organizes the event every couple of months. … So far this year, there have been three Gender Cafe get-togethers at Aden Park restaurant in Phnom Penh’s Chamkar Mon district. Topics for discussion at the meetings have been about women and political empowerment, women and land grabbing and earlier this month, women and migration. …
