Story Highlights
- The World Bank-supported Water Supply and Sanitation Improvement Project is increasing access to piped water supply and improved sanitation services, while strengthening the performance of service providers.
- Cambodian water utilities are being encouraged to bring more women into the workforce.
- Mondulkiri Water Utility has increased its ratio of female staff from 12% in 2019 to 32% in 2024.
In a laboratory located next to a row of giant water tanks, Sim Sokhea sits in her white uniform, working with an array of water quality and chemical testing machines. Sokhea, a production staff member at Mondulkiri Water Utility, smiles and says proudly, “As a person who uses clean water, I wanted to work here because I’m curious to see and experience how things are done in this place.”
Sokhea joined the Utility for two years as an ordinary staff member and after completing on-the-job training was promoted to a technical position, overseeing production and water quality testing.
Every morning, Sokhea collects water samples from the tanks at the utility and from customer residences to conduct jar tests and weigh chemical substances for quality control. At first, she believed she couldn’t do it and wanted to quit, thinking that this was a man’s job. But her routine work now brings satisfaction and proves that her initial thoughts were wrong.
With encouragement from her management team and a strong commitment to try harder, Sokhea now enjoys her job and would like to inspire women who want to join the technical staff.
“I would like to send a message to women that when our utility needs technical staff, please apply and dare to try. Don’t hesitate to apply for this job if you want to do it. I myself was a person who used to be afraid of this job, but now I can do it. So, you can do it too,” she smiles.
Mondulkiri Water is one of the utilities supported by the World Bank-financed Water Supply and Sanitation Improvement Project for Cambodia, which is increasing access to piped water supply and improved sanitation services, and strengthening the operational performance of service providers in various towns and communes. Water utilities are encouraged to bring more women into the workforce, and Mondulkiri Water Utility has increased its ratio of female staff from 12% in 2019 to 32% in 2024.
So Sovannarith, Director General of the Utility, says that when announcing job vacancies, the company explicitly states that women are given priority. During the selection process, the management reviews the candidates’ scores. If the scores between a man and a woman are similar, the management gives priority to the woman.
Mondulkiri Water Utilitycurrently has six female employees, including a deputy director, a department head, an office head, and technical staff. The utility has found that women show a high degree of responsibility at work, Sovannarith said.
Sou Sreyna, Deputy Director General of Mondulkiri Water Utility, has been at the Utility for over six years and echoes this assessment of female staff’s quality of work.
Getting more women into technical jobs still faces various challenges due to prejudice and social factors. Some women believe that this kind of job is labor-intensive, requires high knowledge, and is only fit for men.
“There is a social, family factor here”, says Sreyna. “The important thing is to understand the family, meaning whether a family wants a wife and daughters to experience something new. Family is a bigger motivating factor than external social factors.”
In the future, the Utility will recruit more women in the business department, which has direct contact with customers and finds ways to support female staff.
“As we continue to increase the number of women employees, it is essential that we provide adequate support for their needs”, says So Sovannarith, Director General of Mondulkiri Water Utility. “This includes creating dedicated spaces for breastfeeding and childcare to ensure a smooth transition back to work after maternity leave”.
