Empowering Women for Climate Resilience in Cambodia

Cambodia has experienced significant economic growth and improved living standards over the last two decades, and gender equality has also improved, especially on outcomes such as girls and women’s human capital accumulation in education. However, the impacts of climate change could put the hard-earned economic development gains including those of women, at risk. Climate change impacts are profoundly uneven; women in low-income communities and other vulnerable groups are disproportionately affected because of social and economic factors that increase their vulnerability. Specifically, more women than men live below the poverty line, limiting women’s access to resilient housing, safe water, and sanitation in Cambodia. This situation is further exacerbated by persistent inequalities in terms of access to jobs, livelihood opportunities, finance, and information. Therefore, addressing climate change needs to be combined with efforts to address gender inequalities to ensure women and men can benefit equitably from climate policies and actions. Cambodia has made concerted efforts to address climate change and to transition to low-carbon development. This report aims to inform policy makers, national and local government actors, World Bank task teams, and development partners on opportunities to ensure climate resilient actions are also addressing differentiated needs of women and men and ensure equitable development outcomes. It examines gender-differentiated climate vulnerabilities and how these relate to changes in local livelihood strategies and broader responses to cope with climate change impacts. Furthermore, it identifies barriers to enhancing women’s climate resilience and suggests entry points in low-carbon sectors to enhance women’s economic empowerment and resilience against climate shocks.