Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Cambodia: A Review of National Policies and Strategies
Cambodia is a signatory of all fundamental international human rights treaties, such as the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women. Based on these commitments, Cambodia has made significant progress in gender equality over the past 25 years (UN in Cambodia 2022). Cambodia actively adopted the Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5) and the National Five Year Strategic Plan for Strengthening Gender Mainstreaming and Women’s empowerment called “Neary Ratanak” regularly. Based on a report by the World Economic Forum (WEF), gender gaps in Cambodia had been reduced with a new ranking of 89th in 2019 (out of 153 countries) compared to the previous ranking of 108th in 2014 (out of 142 countries) (MoWA 2020). This report synthesises the key elements of policies and strategies and points to the opportunities and gaps for progress towards the vision set in the national regulatory framework.