Friday, June 4, 2010

From factory to beer garden

Hostesses sit inside the entrance to a beer garden in Phnom Penh last week as a man walks past. Photo by: Sovan Philong
Thursday, 03 June 2010
By Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post

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I HAVE THE FREEDOM TO CHOOSE TO GO WITH A MAN OR NOT. IT IS MY DECISION.
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Women new to entertainment-sector jobs describe fresh set of challenges
A CROWD of young women lingers at the entrance to a Tuol Kork district beer garden. The hostesses sit in rows waiting for customers. Their dresses are cut short, and their make-up is carefully applied under perfectly sculpted hair.
It is a scene that has long been typical of drinking dens across the city. But some of the women at this establishment – and countless others like it – are new to the entertainment industry.
The global financial crisis saw Cambodia lose more than 75,000 garment factory jobs between September 2008 and October 2009, according to Ministry of Commerce figures. As laid-off employees struggle to find new jobs, some have accepted work as hostesses and promoters in beer gardens, where the country’s informal sex trade thrives in the open.
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