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Cambodia sees remarkable progress in promoting women's status in last two decades

Xinhua, March 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

Cambodia has seen remarkable progresses in promoting women's status in economy, society, politics and health within the last two decades, Prime Minister Hun Sen said Sunday.

"We have fulfilled remarkable achievements in the work of enhancing women's rights in the last 20 years," he said during the celebrations of the 104th Anniversary of the International Women's Day. "Women's status has been improved in all fields."

He said the progresses and achievements have responded to the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995, which was aimed to enhance women's rights in economy, society, politics and health.

Minister of Women's Affairs Ing Kantha Phavi said over the last 20 years, women have benefited from peace, political stability, strong national economic growth, poverty reduction and the promotion of public services. "The participation of women in the economy is increasing and remains very high when compared to other countries in the region," she said. "In education sector, gender equality has been fully achieved at primary level and at lower secondary education, while gaps remain at upper and tertiary education."

The participation of women in decision-making and politics has also increased, she said. Between 1993 and 2013, the percentage of women parliamentarians increased from 5.8 percent to 20.3 percent, the number of female deputy prime ministers increased from zero to 1, number of ministers and head of institutions increased from zero to 3, number of secretaries of state increased from zero to 38, and undersecretaries of state from 2 to 48.

According to the minister, in regard to women's health, maternal mortality decreased 61 percent to 170 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2014 from 436 deaths in 2000, due to an increase in number of women accessing reproductive and sexual health services. "All these results were achieved thanks to the high commitment of the Cambodian government under the wise and strong leadership of Prime Minister Hun Sen for promoting gender equality in order to improve governance and democracy," she said.

Even though Cambodia experienced rapid progresses in promoting gender equality and women's empowerment, women and girls are still facing many challenges, including low enrollments in higher education, high maternal mortality if compared to other countries in the region, domestic violence and trafficking, she said. Endi