First Cambodian Women Web Portal

by Sopheap Chak

Global Voices

The first ever women web portal in Cambodia was one of the women programs initiated by the Open Institute in 2006 which aimed to promote gender equality in a society where women can exercise their rights and be empowered to participate in the economic and sociopolitical spheres. This women web portal attempts to bring women issues and their rights empowerment in the global discussion through the use of three Information Communication Technology (ICT) tools: Blog, Online Forum, Gender Mailing List.

Though the internet penetration in Cambodia is still low of which overall usage figure in 2009 survey is 9.8 percent and up to 18.8 percent in the capital, the portal is trying to make information available in Khmer language and creating platforms where women from various backgrounds ranging from commune council members, government officials, organization's representatives, teachers, students, and the youths in general can get their voices heard. Read full article here.