Violence against women in cambodia

Violence Against Women in Cambodia Violence has been a prevalent thorn in the side of domestic relationships since monogamy was adopted. However, the violent mistreatment of women goes far beyond altercations at the home, in Cambodia this type of violence and exploitation of women is a business. Cambodia is a country with a “robust” sex-trafficking industry, as described by Gina Reiss-Wilchins in her article: Gender Based Violence in Cambodia: The Intersection of Rights and Poverty. Reiss-Wilchins goes on to discuss the gender codes of Cambodia, and reacts to the findings of Katherine Brickell’s (senior lecturer in human geography at Royal Holloway, University of London) study of the Cambodian inner-relationship violence since the passing of the Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Protection of the Victims. The Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Protection of the Victims was passed 7 years prior to the study and Brickell surveyed 1,000 men and women over 2 years. She found that the women had little to no rights, and most of the women were unaware of the new laws existence. Brickell also discovered that as little as six percent of the men were aware of the law. The stomach-churning truth about the women who did know of the law is, if they decide to assert their rights they will almost certainly enter extreme poverty. Most all of the women were entirely dependent on their spouse and losing him could lead to the death of themselves and their children. Gina Reiss-Wilchins goes on to suggest plausible solutions to eradicate the ever-present violence towards women in Cambodia. A nationwide awareness of the new laws and more independent women are obviously long-term solutions in helping aid the problem, but she implores us to explore the short-term possibilities. These ideas include trying to alter cultural norms to give women a greater sense of independence, and forming anti-violent groups of men to instill new norms on how to treat women.

Cited: Reiss-Wilchins, Gina. "Huffington Post." . N.p., 131 1 2014. Web. 12 Mar 2014. . Ore, Tracy. The Social Construction of Difference and Inequality. fifth. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009. 614-628. Print.