Gender differentiated issues in balancing work and education for working children in the context of the tourist boom : a case study of the Angkor Park in Siem Reap, Cambodia

Author: Var Vannaksereyraksmey

AIT Library Call Number: AIT Thesis no.GD-07-03

Year: 2007

Academic Program: Gender and Development Studies (GDS)

Type: Thesis (M.Sc.) – Asian Institute of Technology, 2007

Examination Committee: Kyoko Kusakabe (Chairperson); Barbara Earth, Philippe Doneys, L.A.S. Ranjith Perera (Examination Committee Members)

Abstract: The rapid growth in tourism industry has brought in more and more tourists to Cambodia. especially Siem Reap province from time to time. This influx of tourists has created many new employlnent and income generating opportunities related to tourism for the local people and even young children at the tourism area. But at the same time, they also have to go to school and do unpaid work. With these multiple roles, working children tend to have problem with balancing work and schooling, and at the same time their educational status seems to be badly affected that many of them, especially girls, have quitted school at a very low level. Therefore, the main objectives of the research are to examine the different reasons why girls and boys have decided to take up income generating activities and/or to continue their education, to describe how girls and boys are spending their times on income generating activities, household work, and schooling, and how they balance this multiple roles, to compare different obstacles girls and boys face in balancing work and education, and to make policy recommendations to allow students to balance work and education. The research was conducted in Angkor Park of Siem Reap Province in Cambodia with a total of 124 respondents as a prime method of data collection. An exploratory study with descriptive analysis was applied throughout this research. The research concluded that opportunity to earn money brought by tourist boom and poverty of the family bring in more children to engage in selling things at the temples, but it also induces high drop out rate among those working children, while the distance, cultural none, and lack of support from family make the different between priority for schooling and working for girl and boy child and result in foregoing school of daughters more than sons. The lack of recognition from school for the need for children to work creates pressure for working students and discourages them to attend school. To be able for children to balance both work and scho

Scholarship Donor(s): SWEDEN (Sida)

Note: A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Gender and Development Studies, School of Environment, Resources and Development

Advisory: Full-text is available at https://library.ait.ac.th/ (accessible to local ip address only)

Search keywords index: Var Vannaksereyraksmey Gender differentiated issues in balancing work and education for working children in the context of the tourist boom : a case study of the Angkor Park in Siem Reap, Cambodia Gender and Development Studies (GDS) Child labor — Cambodia — Siem Reap;”Tourism — Cambodia — Siem Reap”