PM Highlights Cambodian Women’s Role in the Country Development

Phnom Penh, November 4, 2010 AKP --

Cambodian women have played an important role in the country development and the royal government has always acknowledged their potentiality, Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen said yesterday.

Now, not only we re-examine the women’s traditional role, but also we recognize their capacity, their knowledge, their skills as well as their potentialities, which constitute an important part in the country’s socio-economic development,” Samdech Techo Hun Sen addressed the closing ceremony of the forum on “Uplifting Women’s Leadership Role at the Sub-national Level”.

The Cambodian premier further expressed the royal government’s determination to enhance women’s participation in the public and political sectors.

In Cambodia, the role of women has been remarkably uplifted. The proportion of women elected to the National Assembly has seen an increase – 5 percent in 1993, 11 percent in 1998, 19 percent in 2003 and 22 percent in 2008, while the proportion of women holding positions as secretary of state and undersecretary of state has increased from 7 percent and 9.6 percent in 2003 to 7.7 percent and 14.6 percent in 2008 respectively.

The number of women who are municipal and provincial council members, city, district and commune council members has been also on the rise during this past decade.

According to a report, the Secretariat of Public Service has issued and disseminated instruction information on selecting government officials serving public institutions as women from 20 to 50 percent. As a result, the proportion of women government officials has increased from 32 percent in 2007 to 34 percent in mid 2009. --AKP

(By KHAN Sophirom