BANGKOK, Dec 23 (IPS/TerraViva) - Until the global financial crisis hit, a journey out of poverty for women in rural Cambodia was assured by the vibrant garment sector that had taken root in the country’s capital. Tens of thousands of women in their twenties poured into Phnom Penh to secure jobs in the hundreds of export-oriented factories.
At the height of the garment industry in April 2008, the 300 factories in and around the capital had a 340,000 workforce, 85 percent of whom were female migrant workers from provinces such as Kampong Speu, Prey Veng, Takeo, Kampong Cham and Kandal.
Then the global financial crunch struck, beginning in the United States last year and spreading to this corner of South-east Asia. Suddenly the U.S. market, which accounted for nearly two-thirds of Cambodia’s garment exports, began to dry up.
The consequence, say experts studying the impact of the crisis on a mainstay of the Cambodian economy, is an increasing number of teenage girls from the provinces heading to Phnom Penh to seek jobs to make up for the loss of income that has hit their families.
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