Land Rights Have Become A Women's Issue Through Social Mobilization In Cambodia

My doctoral research at S-CAR examines land rights emerging from social mobilization in Cambodia, and focuses on two locations: urban Boeung Kak Lake and rural Areng Valley.  In Boeung Kak the issue is eradicating low income housing and replacing it with glitzy development geared toward foreign tourists or, in Areng, for a hydro-electric dam. 

In both locations, the issue of land rights is being framed, at least in part, as a women’s issue.  This is partially out of necessity; in Boeung Kak, Areng, and many other communities around Cambodia, men migrate, permanently or seasonally, for work, leaving women at home (more and more women, especially younger women also migrate for work, but it is still largely a male phenomenon).  The women have thus been more affected by the loss of land and houses. While men have been able to migrate for new jobs, due to family responsibilities the woman are more tied to a geographic location, even to the small scale of a neighborhood, and thus have had less flexibility in finding new work and housing. For the women of Areng, the question is further complicated by the geographic remoteness of the valley and the stronger cultural traditions in the rural areas that do not encourage women to leave home.

However, framing land rights as a women’s issues is also strategic, and the women involved in the land rights network are working closely with NGOs and lawyers to craft a strategy and set of tactics that will help them reach their goals.  The Boeung Kak women, in particular, have found that protests tend to be less violent when women are at the forefront, that police are somewhat less willing to beat female protestors, and that the beatings and arrests of female protestors have garnered more attention, and generated more criticism of the police and government, than when violence is perpetrated against male protestors. 

Areng women take part in human rights training

Boeung Kak resident Tep Vanny confront police outside City Hall

For both the Boeung Kak and Areng communities, and the larger land rights network in Cambodia, international attention and the presence of NGOs working closely with the communities is resulting in the diffusion of international human rights language and norms. While the loss and threat of loss of land is a serious problem, it had also brought poor Cambodians in affected communities new opportunities and access to education that were unthinkable just ten years ago.  In Areng, for example, youth activists are in touch with indigenous minority peers around the world and are working in the valley’s schools to build human rights into the curriculum.  Boeung Kak activists have met with communities around the region facing land rights issues, and have also been able to travel and speak internationally on their issues.  While the individual social mobilization is crucial, it also appears that the land rights movement is able to network with other social mobilizations, and is creating a generation of more engaged Cambodian citizens who are willing and able to stand up against abuses.