It is estimated that 30,000 to 60,000 women and girls work in the entertainment or in indirect sex industry in Phnom Penh. The irony is that the number will continue to rise at an alarming rates due to continued economic disparities.
Young girls flock to the city to find works in garment and other entertainment industries only to find themselves caught in the web of alcoholism, prostitution and other indirect sexual services when salary earned is not enough to supplement families back home in the villages, room and board and of course their own livelihood in the city.
For some, prostitution is not a choice; but forced, sold or manipulated by perpetrators that are willing to do any thing for money. For some, it is an opportunity to make quick bucks to get ahead. What ever the reasons maybe; alcoholism, prostitution and indirect sexual practices are rampant in contemporary Cambodia.
The Potential Implications?
In this note, I would like to explore the breadth and impacts of "Beer Girls" or "Sales Promoters" in Cambodia and how their livelihood will play apart in shaping Cambodia's tomorrow.
For those that live and work in Cambodia; beer girls or sales promoters are a growing population and have presence in 90% of the restaurants and other entertainment outlets: such as karaoke bars, discoteques and beer gardens.
Most beer girls work during the night and sleep during the day. Their average salary is between $60 to $110 depending upon what type of beer company they represent. They drink on average of 1.3 liter of beer per night.
Promotion girls, whose livelihoods depend on how much beer they sell, often find themselves coerced into night-long booze sessions that can end in sexual assault or other violence.
More regularly, these women often resort to prostitution to supplement their incomes, which hover around $20 to $50 per night depending upon their negotiation skills, leaving them socially stigmatized and vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases.
Moreover, the regular alcohol consumption will in doubt leads to the deterioration of their body immune systems, leaving them defenseless and prone to all sorts of diseases.
It is a sad irony and of grave consequences if we as citizens of this beloved nation called Kampuchea continue to allow beer companies and importers of alcohol to go unpunished without strict and proper policies and laws protecting and helping women in these kind of workplaces. Nor that we should sit idle to see a generation of drunkards without the necessary support systems in place to help them.
If we are careless, we may have a society faced with more criminal activities, violence and other destructive elements caused by alcoholism and its negative side effects.
I am not against the use of alcohol as a form of entertainment. We have seen time and again that alcohol prohibition is not a way to resolve these potential social issues.
My Proposals:
1. Strict guidelines/work conducts by beer companies and importers on their promoters; specifically drinking on the job and accepting sexual advances; in return for reasonable salary and employment contract.
2. More laws and enforcement of the laws protecting women working in these mentioned settings.
3. Vocational training programs should be made available by the companies and Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training so that Cambodian women are provided alternatives in terms of professions and skill sets.
4. More education needed to provide necessary education to restaurants and entertainment outlets about sexual harassment, assault and violence against women - the right to refuse services to clients who perpetrate such acts.
5. Provide incentives to women in these type of settings to become leaders, speak up and out against sexual violent--organized by beer companies and importers, NGOs, Ministry of Women Affairs and other relevant agencies.
6. Alcohol treatment center to treat alcohol addiction and its side effects.
The issues of alcohol, prostitution, sexual violence and their impacts are REAL and NOW. We need to take immediate actions because they affect all of us in many ways.
It is very easy to forget the SERIOUSNESS and its wider implications because alcohol has been used for centuries for enjoyment; but we must use it in the MOST RESPONSIBLE WAYS. Moreover, sexual violence does not deserve a place in our society. Women of Cambodia must rise above all else because at the end, they are the MOTHERLAND and MUST BE PROTECTED at all costs.
No comments:
Post a Comment