Therefore the Cambodia Gender program is formulated around two main objectives:

• Contribute to the development of a gender discourse at the national level, in order to drive initiatives and shape a genuine national gender democracy perspective. This involves developing new research approaches in order to reveal gender biases and create a critical perspective.
• Support rural women’s participation in politics through the development of grassroots forms of representation, and increase their capacity to push their own agenda for emancipation and improvement.

The Cambodia program aims at highlighting the intersection of gender with:

• ethnicity, as the target areas for rural women’s political participation in the Northeast of Cambodia are inhabited by several different indigenous groups;
• environment, as women are the primary actors in agriculture and play a key role in the management of natural resources.

The Gendered Lens - Gender Film Series

"The Gendered Lense" is a film series initiated by Heinrich Böll Foundation's Cambodia Country Office and Meta House. One Wednesday per month we provide a stage for both documentaries and feature films that address a variety of topics from a gender perspective, focusing on stories from Cambodia and (Southeast) Asia. Films are presented by their makers and NGO representatives - with discussions after the screenings.
The first sessions included the topics gender and land as well as women’s political participation in Cambodia. The January session will cover Cambodian garment workers. Screenings take place at Meta House (#6, St. 264) and usually start at 6pm. Please write an e-mail to phnompenh@hbfasia.org in case you want to be regularly informed about each month’s session.

Recent Publications

Action Research - Promoting Political Participation of Indigenous Women in Cambodia, by Margherita Maffii and Hong Sineath, October 2008

Women listening to a discussion at a dissemination workshop in Kratie, November 2008

Cambodian women remain largely marginalized within the political sphere. This is especially true for indigenous women in local decision making. To better understand and promote indigenous women’s participation in both traditional and formal political institutions, the Cambodia Country Office, together with GTZ, has launched an action research project. The project was conducted during the months of May, June and July 2008 among indigenous communities in Ratanakiri, Mondulkiri, Stung Treng and among Khmer communities in Kratie.

Following a very complex and tricky cross road at the intersection between ethnicity, gender, and political representation, the study points at both obstacles and opportunities to enhance indigenous women’s political participation. While most female commune councilors are still facing an ethnically Khmer and male dominated context in which their role is downsized and marginalized, women participating in this research agreed on the relevance of women’s access to governance, and on the capacity and commitment that women have in managing the communities. The study results are currently being disseminated through a number of workshops both at the provincial and national level.

Women's Perspectives: A Case Study of Systematic Land Registration in Cambodia, by Mehrak Mehrvar, Chhay Kim Sore and My Sambath, July 2008

With the adoption of a new Land Law in 2001, the Royal Government of Cambodia initiated a comprehensive land reform process. This includes for the first time registration of land owned by individuals and families. Guidelines for land registration strongly recommend Joint Land Titling for property owned by couples to ensure the protection of women's land rights during the process of registration. This study originates from the need to examine more in-depth the participation of women in this process and highlights a series of biases that endanger the recognition of women's land ownership.

Gender and Women’s politics in Cambodia.Scoping study for the Cambodia Program of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, by Kim Baureaksmey and Susanne Schütte, October 2007

 The study describes different approaches and strategies employed by organizations working in the field of gender and women’s politics in Cambodia. The survey reveals major challenges the organizations face in their everyday work and provides best practice examples in the field of women’s empowerment, gender justice and change of gender perception. Read more...