In Cambodia, there is a famous saying that “men are like gold, while women are like white cloths”.
This means the only way to preserve the purity and self-worth of a Khmer woman is to keep her
inside the house because once a white cloth is soiled, it can never be clean again. Increasingly,
Khmer women are breaking the code of conduct of the “good Khmer woman” by venturing outside
of their homes in search of paid employment. Hundreds of thousands have migrated to cities, such
as Phnom Penh and Siem Reap; many others have travelled to work in other countries, such as
Malaysia, the Republic of Korea, Thailand and even Saudi Arabia. While male migrants generally
find themselves working in offshore fishing, construction sites and plantations, Cambodian female
migrants work in domestic service, fish processing, shrimp peeling, restaurants, plantations, factories
and prostitution. Compared with men, women migrate for a wider range of reasons, beyond that
of direct economic need. Women tend to move due to family reasons – 50 per cent compared with
30 per cent for men. Women move because they want to join their husbands who are working in
Phnom Penh or in Thailand; women move because they have family or relatives who encourage
them to do so; and they move because of landlessness, poverty and a desire to seek a better life.
Contrary to common perceptions, a higher percentage of men move as a result of marriage, 25 per
cent compared to about 10 per cent for women (NIS 2005). This reflects the need for more studies
of migration in the cultural context.