Literature to date on employment relations in Cambodia has focused for the most part on the emergence of the labour legislation and third-party monitoring mechanisms in the context of export-oriented manufacturing in the 1990s. This article builds on these analyses to consider the state’s political transition and the role of external influences in this process. It explores the relationship between political transition and the development of Cambodia’s employment relations framework, arguing that deep contradictions between a formally progressive framework of labour regulation and the regime’s ideologies and interests continue to shape employment relations practice. These contradictions are evidenced by the obstacles posed to comprehensive implementation of the labour law by the need to accommodate international interests, facilitate prescribed forms of citizen participation and maintain ruling elite power and privilege. Despite these tensions, regulatory reform and the corresponding civil society developments have succeeded to the extent that workers are able to act in response to the limitations of the system and continued attempts by the state to control them.
This article discusses and analyses the experience of women involved in a nongovernment organisation-funded women's empowerment project in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Women involved in the project encounter ideas about community development and urban poverty reduction Á/ in particular, outsider-imposed notions of self-help group formation, women's empowerment, and community solidarity. The article explores the ways in which power dynamics and social structures in this postconflict setting affect the outcome of women's self-help groups. We argue that for some women, vulnerability and social exclusion are reinforced, because of assumptions that both 'the community' and 'women' are homogenous groupings. In fact, unequal power and diversity among women can derail ideas of solidarity and shared interests in women's self-help groups.Cet article discute et analyse l'expe´rience des femmes participant a`un projet d'autonomisation des femmes finance´par une ONG a`Phnom Penh, au Cambodge. Les femmes qui prennent part a`ce projet rencontrent des ide´es relatives au de´veloppement communautaire et a`la re´duction de la pauvrete´en milieu urbain Á/ en particulier des notions impose´es par des entite´s extérieures concernant la formation de groupes d'entraide, l'autonomisation des femmes et la solidarite´au sein des communaute´s. Cet article examine les manie`res dont la dynamique des pouvoirs et les structures sociales dans ce contexte post-conflit influencent les re´sultats des groupes d'entraide de femmes. Nous soutenons que, pour certaines femmes, la vulne´rabilite´et l'exclusion sociale sont renforce´es, du fait qu'il est suppose´que « la communaute´» et « les femmes » constituent des groupes homoge`nes. De fait, les ine´galite´s de pouvoir et la diversite´parmi les femmes peuvent faire de´railler les ide´es de solidarite´et d'inte´reˆts communs au sein des groupes d'entraide de femmes.El presente artículo examina y analiza las vivencias de las mujeres participantes en un proyecto de empoderamiento de mujeres financiado por ONG, en Nom Pen, Camboya. Quienes participaron en este proyecto se hallaron frente a ideas sobre el desarrollo comunitario y la reduccio´n de la pobreza urbana y, especialmente, frente a ideas impuestas por forasteros, vinculadas a la formacio´n de grupos de autoayuda, al empoderamiento de las mujeres y a la solidaridad comunitaria. El artículo examina las maneras en que las dina´micas de poder y las estructuras sociales en este entorno de posconflicto afectan los resultados derivados de los grupos de autoayuda de las mujeres. Las autoras sostienen que algunas de ellas ven aumentar su vulnerabilidad y su exclusión social, como consecuencia de los supuestos de que tanto ''la comunidad'' como ''las mujeres'' constituyen grupos homoge´neos. Por el contrario, el poder desigual y la diversidad existente entre las mismas pueden descarrilar las ideas de solidaridad y de intereses compartidos en los grupos de autoayuda de las mujeres.
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