Gender Inequality in Cambodia: Hallam Hurt 2018

Allen spent a week traveling throughout Cambodia last summer, interviewing experts on women’s education and health, visiting schools and health clinics, and working with an NGO. All of this was in service of answering her essential question: How does gender inequality in Cambodia’s educational system impact Cambodian women’s access to healthcare?

Accompanied by Chatham Hall biology teacher, Kirsten Blaesing, Allen interviewed teachers at the Lakeside School in Phnom Penh, who explained the limitations placed on young girls as they grow up through the educational system in Cambodia. These girls typically receive less education than their male peers due to the societal pressures placed on women to care for the family and the home, as exemplified by the typical age for marriage hovering between 13 and 16 years old. Allen also had the chance to speak with groups, such as the Empowering Youth Cambodia foundation, which sends social workers into communities to help young women continue their education and find access to appropriate healthcare. Allen ended her presentation with her conclusion that lack of education and susceptibility to dropping out of school has vast effects on, not only the healthcare women receive in Cambodia but also on their general understanding of health and self-care. These attitudes leave women in Cambodia more likely to be the victims of domestic abuse and disease, and the only way to break this cycle is through education.