Meeting sets out action plan for women’s economic empowerment
Poor education and a lack of skills are still major challenges for Cambodian women and a recent meeting in Phnom Penh with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the United Nations Development Program set out to validate an action plan on women’s economic empowerment that would help the Kingdom meet UN Millennium Development Goal 3, which focuses on improving gender equality. … A report by the Millennium Development Goal Acceleration Framework (MAF), which is specially focused on women’s economic empowerment, has highlighted several key interventions to boost opportunities for women. Among them is a focus on education, including technical and vocational training as well as instruction in business skills and management techniques. … Women already play a central role in Cambodia’s economy. They are more active in business than men when it comes to micro as well as small and midsize enterprises According to the 2011 Economic Census of Cambodia, among the nation’s 505,134 business establishment, just over 61 percent of employees were women. The survey also found that among the 182,439 businesses established between Jan 2009 to March 2011, nearly 40 percent consisted of one person- a woman. …
