Gender Equality / Infant Mortality
Gender Equality
Problem: More women are becoming involved in the work force; they are still below their 50% target though. The Cambodian authorities are seeing this increase of women in the work force as a sign of progress, which it is. The problem is continuing to allow more women in the labor force and giving them a better salary. It can be hard to change when for most of the time it used to only be males who would work.
Cause: In order to increase the amount of women who are able to be employed outside the home, they need proper education. There also needs to be enough job opportunities for them. Many women can only find jobs at the garment industry. Working at the garment industry is seen is a female’s job. About 90% of the workers there are female. There are several different attitudes of what are suitable jobs for females.
Solution: There are several solutions to this problem of allowing more women into the workforce and giving them a better salary. First attention needs to be drawn to the schools. Increasing the enrollment rate in primary education will help their literacy rate go up. Not only focusing on primary education but encouraging females to continue on all the way up through college. If the schools can teach how important education is in helping them get jobs in their future then I feel like more females would be determined to continue their education. I think there should be programs created that help women to learn more about the market and the law. These programs should be funded by the government. When women can learn more about the market and the law they will have that knowledge to start up their own small businesses as well as having more education to enter the workforce. The government also needs to create more industries besides the garment industry. They need to expand working opportunities for women. The last thing about helping more women enter the workforce is creating adequate childcare facilities so the mothers can go out and work. This will also help create more jobs for women and allow others to make an adequate amount of money to provide for their family.
Problem: More women are becoming involved in the work force; they are still below their 50% target though. The Cambodian authorities are seeing this increase of women in the work force as a sign of progress, which it is. The problem is continuing to allow more women in the labor force and giving them a better salary. It can be hard to change when for most of the time it used to only be males who would work.
Cause: In order to increase the amount of women who are able to be employed outside the home, they need proper education. There also needs to be enough job opportunities for them. Many women can only find jobs at the garment industry. Working at the garment industry is seen is a female’s job. About 90% of the workers there are female. There are several different attitudes of what are suitable jobs for females.
Solution: There are several solutions to this problem of allowing more women into the workforce and giving them a better salary. First attention needs to be drawn to the schools. Increasing the enrollment rate in primary education will help their literacy rate go up. Not only focusing on primary education but encouraging females to continue on all the way up through college. If the schools can teach how important education is in helping them get jobs in their future then I feel like more females would be determined to continue their education. I think there should be programs created that help women to learn more about the market and the law. These programs should be funded by the government. When women can learn more about the market and the law they will have that knowledge to start up their own small businesses as well as having more education to enter the workforce. The government also needs to create more industries besides the garment industry. They need to expand working opportunities for women. The last thing about helping more women enter the workforce is creating adequate childcare facilities so the mothers can go out and work. This will also help create more jobs for women and allow others to make an adequate amount of money to provide for their family.
Infant Mortality
Problem: In Cambodia they have greatly reduced the infant mortality rate. In 1990 the infant mortality rate was 85. By 2012 it dropped to 34. The problem that they are dealing with is maintaining this rate. Though it is dropping, more could be done to keep it going down.
Cause: The cause for the struggle of trying to maintain this decrease in infant mortality is the lack of human and financial resources. They don’t have enough money to use certain interventions that can be used to save many lives. Also many of the children or infants are malnourished. The Ministry of Health along with the aid of USAID has been able to help 11 Cambodia’s 24 provinces. This has been very helpful, yet it is only about half of Cambodia's provinces.
Solution: A solution to this problem would be to get more funding for Cambodia to use in creating more health programs that will increase the mother’s knowledge. Teaching the mother's about the importance of breastfeeding and how that is the best way for their babies to get the nutrients they need will be important in reducing this problem. Also providing the mother with items that will help the baby be stronger and healthier. This will in turn reduce infant mortality. The main funding for this will come from supporting neighboring countries and eventually when Cambodia has become more developed they can pay for their own programs. Teaching the parents about birth spacing and how to avoid their infant becoming malnourished will be important in these programs. We will know if these programs are effective if the infant mortality rate decreases.