Indigenous Women Issues related to education, healthcare, national resource managements, access to public service,

1. Indigenous Women
Situation In Cambodia
Prepared and coordinated by:
Mr. Pheap Sochea, President of CIYA
Ms. Ly Savy
Ms. Lat Sok Em

2.  Education:
◦ Formal education has improved
for the new women generation.
But the curriculums are not
appropriate to their culture,
tradition, and language.
◦ Older Women generation has
been less educated because
they lived in the war period and
the formal education has not yet
been spread out through their
area (remote area).

3.  Health:
◦ General indigenous peoples still believe in spiritual and
traditional treatment rather than to the public service or
local health services when they are sick. This reason
comes from:
 Lack of belief with the new modern treatment
 Lack of health post in their area (sometime there is, but
no medicine and treatment materials)
 Lack of accessing to modern health service/health post
 Discrimination of using service from the health worker
◦ Poverty and lack of food security has threatened some
indigenous women health to the worst form.
◦ Pregnant women are sometimes banned to go to Health
Centre for delivery due to traditional beliefs and the
woman has to delivery in a special house built just for
delivery. This leads indigenous women to lack of
nutrition and lack of preventing vaccine to protect their
health and baby.

4.  Health (cont’.):
◦ Illness that indigenous women in Cambodia
usually have:
 Diarrhoea
 Malaria
 Cold/cough (URI)/Tuberculosis
 swollen limbs – don’t know cause
 Skin problems (scabies)
 Seizures/convulsions – maybe epilepsy, not sure
 Paralysis – think caused by high blood pressure /
diabetes
 Hepatitis
 Malnutrition in Children – swollen belly, very thin
children, large eyes
 Women anaemia – very pale
 Maternal health care very poor – no birth spacing,
women very lethargic/ anaemia

5.  Economy/income/livelihoods/traditio
nal economy
◦ Food insecurity: Earlier indigenous
women could find food from forest now
this has reduced because of resources
become scare and land tenure has
been converted to Economic Land
Concession.
◦ In order to earn income indigenous
women sell their labour to businessmen
or companies such as grow
tree/plant/rice, clear grass, clear forest,
look after the crops.
◦ Diet – even thought now they have
more access to market exchange the
crops with rice and food supply, but
food for their daily meal are still
remained less.
◦ Indigenous Women are the key
members in generating income, feeding
animals, and cultivating agriculture for
their family food.

6. ◦ Traditionally men are the key
decision making persons in any
issues regarding culture, belief,
tradition. But women perspectives
and concerns are also considered.
◦ Gender promotion by civic
societies and government has
spread out to indigenous women
participation in any local
authorities such as commune
councils and
◦ Government promote the gender
participation in political and
decision making process in all
level.
 Participation in decision making structures – community to
national level; indigenous and/or contemporary government
structures:

7. Number of
communes
Commune
councils
members
Women
Elected (%)
Chief of
commun
e
First
deputy
Second
deputy
Members
Mondulkiri 21 107 17(15.95) - 1 3 13
Ratanakiri 49 253 36(14.23) - 4 8 24
Kratie 46 282 49(17.38) 4 5 3 37
Steng treng 34 176 29(16.48) 2 5 2 20

8.  Traditional and changing roles of indigenous
women
◦ All works are done by indigenous women:
 House work: cooking, caring children, etc.
 Farm work: grow rice, harvesting, grass clearing, etc.
 Income generation: selling product, traditional weaving,
selling labor, resin tapping, etc.
 Livestock: Feeding animals such cow, buffalo, pig, chicken,
etc.

9.  Household:
◦ Domestic violent: overuse of
alcohols, lack of sympathy, and lack of
gender understanding in house work.
◦ Poverty: lack of innovation in farming and
income generation.
◦ Discrimination and lack of
encouragement: after married, most of
husband give no encouragement for women to
participation in any community /society works and
politics especially for major decision making
process.
◦ Workload: As wife house, women do most of
works in family. This workload will be increased
after their husband die.
◦ Health: Health issues is the big issues with
any indigenous women.
 Society:
◦ Discrimination and Lack of
encouragement: As social perspectives
indigenous women give little value to any kind of work
such in household and decision making process.
◦ Lack of participation in all level of politics
and decision making process: even though
there is gender promotion principle but practically
there is less indigenous women participated in this all
process and quality of participation is limited.
◦ Land and natural resources loss: loss of
land and natural resources put more pressure
indigenous women to overcome their livelihood and
survival.
◦ Climate change: The impact of climate change
such as flood, drought, insect infestation affected
severely indigenous crops and farming. As the result
this lead indigenous women to meet additional
challenges for their livelihood and society.

10.  Environment protection: Indigenous women have
actively participated in community forestry establishment, Land
management, Disaster Risk Reduction Committee.
 Case in Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri: Most IP women at
commune level actively participated in claiming back their land and
forest from rubber plantation companies for their next generation
survival through advocacy activities.
 Dialogue: IP women attended in any workshop discussing on
the impact of hydropower dam establishment at Vietnam and
economic concession.
 Raising Voice and Advocacy: indigenous women
actively participate in any advocacy efforts at the community to
national level such during Indigenous Peoples Forum, International
Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Raising through media
such as interviewing. Forming indigenous women institution to their
specific women issues.

11.  To make communities have their representatives
 To bring voice of IP communities through their representatives
into the meetings at all levels.
 To identify the needs and issues of communities and prepare
the strategic plan to cope with them.
 To bring the Rights for IP communities through trainings or
workshops and encourage women participation in the decision
making.
 To conduct awareness raising on client’s health rights and
needs
 To help communities in the correct way of conducting advocacy
.

12.  IPHIA found many issues through the PAR and
other communities survey like:
 Low participation of women in political, social and
economic issues.
 Low understanding of women related to human
rights, Health Rights and Advocacy.

13. Many activities still be needed to continue:
 To improve IP’s health Rights.
 To act as the voice for IP
 To work as a bridge between IP and health staff
 To bring the Health Rights understanding to
communities
 To empower the women participate into Political,
economic and social issues at commune, district and
provincial level.

14.  Indigenous Institution: There is good respect to each other of indigenous
leaders. And mostly all of issues they want to address they need all of perspectives and
inputs from all level regardless genders and age.
 Government Institution: All though there is some policies and political will
to promote indigenous women in state works or politics in practice there is still
lack of indigenous women number in state sector. This because of indigenous
women capacity to get those position and some time lack of encouragement
for women to be involved.
 In order to address this gender balance: Government and civil
societies have play key role in promoting gender balance in any of their works.
But. the result is less to address the indigenous women issues.

15.  Indigenous Women Rights Violation/Abuse:
◦ Call for data disaggregation of indigenous women should be done in
order to find how difference the women rights abuse between
mainstream women and indigenous women.
 Capacity building: training and consultation should be widely supported
UN Agencies, Governments and NGOs in order to mainstream gender
balance at all level the themes included:
◦ CEDAW
◦ UNDRIP
◦ Women Rights particularly indigenous women
 Call for addressing the indigenous women issues such as
in public services, livelihood, political participation, and
decision making process.