Although women participation in the labor force in Cambodia has increased from 76 to 80 percent in the years between 2008 and 2012, there are prominent gender inequalities in employment.
Gender wage gap remains high with women concentration in the low paying jobs such as forestry and retail trade.
Women have low levels of required skills to participate in meaningful employment and they also experience difficulties due to discrimination practices.
In the long run, women suffer worse economic conditions compared to men and the rise in the number of female-headed households worsens the situation.
Given that the strategy that was launched in 2002 and has seen little success, the government has reworked its policy framework to ensure a greater inclusion of NGO's and better coordination of the process of eradicating poverty.
It came up with the Second Socio-Economic Development Plan (SEDP II)[5] that would remove duplication of tasks and allow a more inclusive approach instead of the government bearing all the burden of improving the socioeconomic situation of the country.
[6] Working with the NGOs is guided by the Rectangular Strategy that looks at factors such as peace, partnership in development, regional and international integration, and creating favorable financial and macroeconomic environment.
This strategy focused on ensuring an average economic growth of 7%, establishing more job for its citizens especially youth, reducing poverty by 1% every year, and strengthening institutional capacity and governance.
A research reveals that a small shock of about US$0.30 per day would, equal to the price of two water bottles, lead to doubling the poverty status in Cambodia.
The nation of Cambodia is not any different since even after making considerable strides to get away from poverty, the country has a high number of people who are vulnerable to becoming poor.
Cambodia recorded a Gross Domestic Product of 16.7 billions in 2014, placing the country as accounting only for 0.7 percent of the economic activity of the entire ASEAN region.
[11] Similar to other developing countries, the citizens who engage in the farming sector suffer the vulnerability of climate shocks including flooding and drought.
A survey by the National Institute of Statistics (NIS) of Cambodia revealed that 60.2 percent of the citizens worked in the informal sector.
The casual sector employment attracts low wages, and the workers can barely make any savings to improve their economic situation.
Lack of access to sanitation and water facilities continue to pose a significant challenge to the health care system.
The infant mortality rate in Cambodia is higher compared to any other country in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region.
Food security is affected by debt, natural disasters, an insufficient public safety net, and low and irregular incomes.
There are high levels of school dropout rates in the country as the young children seek employment to provide for their economic needs.
[8] A look at the enrollment rates reveals the extent of poverty in hindering educational advancement for a high number of children in the country.