Challenge statement
Challenge type: If you are working on multiple challenges, please indicate if this is your "big bet" or "exploratory" challenge.
Please note: we ask you to only submit a maximum of 3 challenges - 1x Big Bet, 2x Exploratory. Each challenge must be submitted individually.
BIG BET
Challenge statement: What is your challenge? (Please answer in specific terms: "Our challenge is that...”.)
Our challenge is that women are continuing to take predominant roles in informal sectors of the Cambodian economy, which are fragile and vulnerable to socioeconomic shocks.
Background: What is the history of your challenge? What is causing or driving it? Who is involved? How does the current situation look like? What undesired effects does it produce?
Cambodia has had one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the country saw consistently high rates of economic growth, which evidently also yielded positive impacts on women’s livelihood. However, significant gender inequalities continue, creating barriers to women’s equal participation in the cultural, economic, and political life of the country that need to be addressed to achieve inclusive and sustainable development. It is therefore imperative to address these issues to ensure that no women are left behind as Cambodia’s society and economy continue to evolve. As the country aspires to attain upper middle-income status by 2030, strengthening the socioeconomic inclusion of women will help ensure an equitable and prosperous future for the country.
While both women and men participate in the economy, women are often supplementing their income on top of their household responsibilities and have additional concerns and responsibilities relative to men. Many women are responsible for household work and childcare as their first responsibility and seek income-generating work such as owning MSMEs or working in factories as a secondary task (UN Women & BBC Media Action, 2020). This has been slow to change despite women’s increased participation in and time allocated to paid work (Gender Equality in the Labor Market in Cambodia, ILO and ADB).
This burden of unpaid and domestic/care work falls disproportionately on Cambodian women and likely has an impact on their ability to fully participate in society and the economy. There is a strong gendered division of domestic labor with women having primary responsibility for household and care work and a higher total work burden relative to men. The unpaid work gap for women is 3.5 hours per day, in contrast to men’s unpaid domestic work averaging to 18 minutes per day. In addition, unpaid family workers are more than twice as likely to be women as men and are in a particularly precarious situation, dependent on others in the household for any income (National Institute of Statistics, 2021).
This could be resulting in time poverty that prevents women from investing in themselves, their learning and profiting fully from economic opportunities. For example, time poverty among indigenous women in Cambodia may prevent them from being able to learn Khmer, an essential barrier to overcome to fully participate in Cambodia’s society and economy (Maffii & Hong, 2010).
Women also disproportionately bear the burden of climate change. This pressure comes from many sources, such as local leaders who place the responsibility of families’ survival on women, particularly in the wake of a disaster (UN Women & BBC Media Action, 2020). Women in communities affected by disasters report that they don’t have time to participate in the commune committee (Tanyag & True, 2019).
Moreover, for the many Cambodian women who are business-owners, there is evidence that there may be disparities in formalization, skills, and access/use of services. For example, studies have found low rates of digital literacy for women-owned businesses, particularly those owned by older and/or rural women (UN ESCAP, 2022).
Quantitative evidence: What (official) data sources do you have on this challenge that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge? You can add text, a link, or a picture.
Cambodia has high labor force participation rates for women (84.1%) and men (91%) (National Institute of Statistics, 2020); however, this is overwhelmingly in the informal sector of the economy. Global reporting for SDGs (indicator 8.3.1) shows that 96% of women and 94.1% of men are in the informal sector and do not have employers who contribute to their social security and are not entitled to paid annual leave or sick leave benefits.
Women are largely represented in the informal and vulnerable sectors of Cambodia’s economy. For example, while women own about 62% of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Cambodia, they only own around 25% of formally registered SMEs (UN ESCAP, 2022). Many women work in places such as in garment factories, where it has been estimated that 85% of workers are women (BetterWork, 2021), and where working conditions and job security can be very poor.
There is also evidence that discrimination rooted in harmful gender norms is impacting Cambodian women. Based on a recent study from UNDP Cambodia, “The Gender Wage Gap in Cambodia”, published in 2021, there exists a significant disparity between men and women in certain sectors of the economy and types of work. The gender wage gap for equivalent work was estimated to be 19%, which the authors concluded is attributable to discrimination against women.
Qualitative evidence: What weak signals have you recently spotted that characterizes its urgency? Please provide qualitative information that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge. You can add text, a link, or a picture.
Beliefs about the role of women in the household, and her duty to contribute to the family and internal household management, are deeply held by both men and women. Men and women accept a gendered division of labour, with men as the family breadwinner and women as mainly responsible for household management and childcare (UN Women & BBC Media Action, 2020). Cambodian women are traditionally charged with overseeing their families’ finances (Southeast Asia Globe, 2018). In some communities, men migrate to look for economic opportunity, but women cannot do this, owing to gender norms about her duty to stay at home (UN Women & BBC Media Action, 2020).
Women have limiting perceptions of themselves. For example, a higher percentage of women (compared to men) agreed that men make better political leaders than women. Older women, less educated women and women outside Phnom Penh are more likely to see their gender as an obstacle (CDRI, 2019). Women managers in green industries fear negative judgement for being assertive or self-confident (UNIDO & UN Women, 2021).
Expectations of the ideal Khmer woman are also reinforced and negotiated in day-to-day interactions in households, communities, and workplaces. Women entrepreneurs face negative judgements by their family (54%), and community (71%) when starting their businesses (UNIDO & UN Women, 2021).
Value proposition: What added value or unique value proposition is your Accelerator Lab bringing to solving this challenge? Why is it your Lab that needs to work on this challenge and not other actors within UNDP, other stakeholders in the country respectively? Why is it worth investing resources to this challenge?
Closing the gaps in gender equality and socioeconomic inclusion of women in Cambodia context is complex and requires a deep dive into the structural, cultural, behavioral, and mental barriers that women face. This can only be done by integrated approach as taken in this study including ethnography, behavioral insights, and systemic analysis.
Short “tweet” summary: We would like to tweet what you are working on, can you summarize your challenge in a maximum of 280 characters?
Cambodia Accelerator Lab is working to unpack structural and behavioral barriers that hinder the progress towards gender equality and socioeconomic inclusion of Cambodian women and propose interventions that can close the gaps and promote inclusive and sustainable development.
Partners
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the Parter:
Ministry of Women's Affairs
What sector does our partner belong to?
Government (&related)
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
Co-design
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the Parter:
UN Women
What sector does our partner belong to?
United Nations
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
Co-design/consultation
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the Parter:
Khmer Enterprise
What sector does our partner belong to?
Government (&related)
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
Amplify the uptake of the study among government partners
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the Parter:
Gender and Development for Cambodia (GADC)
What sector does our partner belong to?
Civil Society
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
Consultation and outreach
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the Parter:
SHE Investments
What sector does our partner belong to?
Private Sector
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
Consultation
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
Yes
Learning questions
Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?
Why do women prevail in the informal sector of the Cambodian economy? Do women take on roles in the informal and vulnerable sectors of the Cambodian economy (including unformalized MSMEs) because of economic barriers, psychological/physical capability, gendered/cultural norms, or because of a preference for work/life balance?
To what stage(s) in the learning cycle does your learning question relate?
Sense, Explore, Test
Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
System thinking, in particular, the iceberg model will be used to unpack the mental model, belief, and assumptions, and structural barriers that underpin the gender inequality and exclusion. Participatory design will be used to collect and integrate multiple perspectives around the challenge. Horizon scanning will be used to scan for signals and trends impacting the challenge. Behavioral insights will be used to identify behavioral barriers and enablers for women's socioeconomic inclusion. Ethnography will be used to understand gendered and cultural barriers for women's socioeconomic inclusion.
Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
Gender disaggregated data and intersectionality. These different types of data sources will help to answer the learning questions from a different angle and with multiple perspectives, ensuring comprehensive understanding of the challenge.
5Gender equality
8Decent work and economic growth
10Reduced innequalities
Comments
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