- Motivating Cambodian businesses to prioritize women’s empowerment
- Companies urged to have strong systems of support for women
- Businesses encouraged to promote gender equality in their organizations and society
Cambodian enterprises are being asked to bring their women’s empowerment work to the core of their abbreviated priorities and take a firm position on what that commitment means.
The leaders of those enterprises are being challenged to enforce a zero tolerance for harassment, build systemic support and afford equal opportunity for all women regardless of their workplace.
Organisations are also encouraged to implement their gender equality approaches within organisations and society at large and plan on working towards women's empowerment in leadership at all levels.
At a BritCham Cambodia business breakfast on Women’s Empowerment Principles hosted on August 20, Katja Freiwald, UN Women Asia-Pacific Regional Lead for Women’s Economic Empowerment and Migration, emphasized that real change must occur at the grassroots and consistently endorsed by leaders.
"If leaders don’t talk about it, women’s empowerment will not happen," said Katja, stressing that zero tolerance for violence and harassment must be a base principle for every business.
Katja called on companies to have strong mechanisms for women facing those challenges and called this a baseline requirement for every workplace.
Daniel Simon, Managing Director of Rosewood Phnom Penh, underscored the uniquely industry-related challenges faced by the hospitality industry in addressing sexual harassment, acknowledging that it is a transformational process but stating that his business takes reported issues of harassment seriously and that they have established an employee resource group to raise financial and emotional support to women employees.
The hotel offers three months of fully paid maternity leave, which route Cambodian Law is less generous — requiring 90 days paid at half pay — and includes three months of paid parental leave for all employees, regardless of gender.
"You can't allow any part of an organization not to be treated fairly and equally," Simon said.
In addition, Sin Sokanha, Partner at Bun & Associates, added that her firm focuses on talent and potential over gender when managing their workforce. She also explained how her firm has flexible work policies to help women meet their work and personal obligations.
"If a woman needs to start late, take a half day or work at home we allow all of that," Sin said.
There were also continuous training, mentoring and coaching programs for women to prepare them for leadership roles. "I was mentored personally through these programs before taking my current position," she said.
