Caring for women in the Construction sector: CARE Cambodia

Taking a stroll around Phnom Penh is enough to show anyone that the real estate and construction sector is booming. Investments have risen from US$840 million in 2010 to US$ 2.7 billion in 2013. But did you know that approximately 30 per cent of the workers on construction sites are women? construction-care-3 (2)

Women, along with men, are building Phnom Penh and it’s important for them and their families that they are treated fairly and protected. That’s why CARE International is undertaking the EU-funded project: Labour Rights for Female Construction Workers. The project aims to enhance protections for women in the construction sector and builds upon CARE’s proven history of improving women’s working lives in the hospitality and garment industries.

This project is a chance for responsible construction companies and developers to work with CARE to make sure investing in real estate is investing in the community. Interested private sector partners can take part in this project with CARE on to build up their corporate social responsibility portfolio. But beyond CSR, investing in women has been found to make good business sense. When companies invest in their female workers, they are much better placed to notice talented individuals that can contribute more. Why waste the potential of your women workers when, with the right support, they could be your best employees? CARE’s approach in this construction project is threefold. CARE, through local partners, will work with women directly to improve their capacity. This will include facilitating peer-to-peer training to help women understand protections in place, their own potential and encourage them to make the most of work in construction. It will also include educational resources that will be offered for free to workers. By engaging with employers and peak bodies, CARE will help construction companies and developers to invest in the human capital of their female workers through providing training to managers and human resources personnel. CARE will work with women workers and the private sector to facilitate avenues of communication between managers and women workers to provide managers with better understanding of the specific situation of their female workers. To complement these approaches, CARE will also work with Government stakeholders to improve institutional protections.

CARE is looking for industry partners in the real estate and construction sector to be part of this project.

If this is something that interests you, please contact the Project Manager, Ms Kalyan Rath, at kalyan.rath@careint.org or Adviser, Ms Adriana Siddle, at adriana.siddle@careint.org.