Indonesian ambassador Santo Darmosumarto (centre, in red) paid a courtesy call on women’s affairs minister Ing Kantha Phavy on March 26. Supplied
Indonesia and Cambodia have reiterated their shared commitment in advancing gender mainstreaming policies and addressing the challenges faced by women.
On March 26, Cambodian Minister of Women's Affairs Ing Kantha Phavy met with Indonesian ambassador Santo Darmosumarto to discuss enhancing gender equality and women's empowerment.
“The minister highlighted the women’s affairs ministry’s strategy to mainstream gender into line ministries, institutions, national policies, national frameworks and strategic plans, including the Quadrangular Strategic Plan and the Pentagonal Strategic Plan,” said a women’s ministry statement.
“Gender mainstreaming frameworks, incorporating gender-transformative approaches in legal frameworks, national policies and sectoral programmes, aim to drive systemic change in public attitudes,” it added.
These efforts are guided by six key strategies: strengthening women's economic empowerment; promoting social ethics, women's values, and family; enhancing the well-being of women and girls; ensuring legal protection for women and girls; increasing women's participation in leadership and governance; and addressing the impact of climate change on women.
Ambassador Darmosumarto highlighted Cambodia’s achievement in boosting its female labour force participation rate (LFPR) to the top in the region.
However, the ambassador acknowledged that gender-related challenges remain, such as deep-rooted patriarchal norms and persistent gender stereotypes — particularly in rural areas — that hinder women's full participation in leadership and decision-making.
“I would be honoured to learn more from Cambodia regarding the challenges faced, as well as the efforts made to promote gender mainstreaming and empowering women,” he said.
The two officials agreed that there are several opportunities for cooperation, both through bilateral as well as multilateral mechanisms.
This could be stepped up through greater interactions between Indonesia’s Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection and Cambodia’s Ministry of Women's Affairs.
They also discussed ways to connect small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurship between women of the two countries, providing undergraduate, master's, and doctoral scholarships to female students and civil servants and expanding cooperation within the ASEAN framework.
The ambassador also suggested several avenues for collaboration, including exchanges of best practices through capacity-building programmes.
The ministry noted that there is immense potential in strengthening interactions among women entrepreneurs, when considering that MSMEs in both countries are driven by women.
“Ambassador Santo encouraged more Cambodian women to pursue higher education in Indonesia through scholarship programmes, as well as more robust cooperation in multilateral platforms such as ASEAN,” added the Indonesian embassy, via social media.
