Cambodian women who flouted archaic rules are now role models promoting gender equality
- Generations of rural Cambodian girls were taught traditional rules for how to be a ‘proper woman’, dutiful wife and home maker
- Some rebelled, determined to carve their own paths
Thavry Thon smiles as she recalls sitting in her classroom at age 11 reciting verses from the Chbab Srey. “I still remember today how to sing those songs,” she says.
Born in Cambodia on Koh Ksach Tunlea, a small island 40km south of Phnom Penh, like most her peers Thon, now 28, was raised in a traditional rural community. According to societal norms, Thon’s life was laid out for her. She would attend school before dropping out in her mid-teens, secure a menial job, marry, have children and look after the home.
Throughout this the Chbab Srey was integral for her, as it provides a code of conduct for all Cambodian women – for men there is the Chbab Proh, which is a much shorter rule book.
“I had never travelled out of my hometown, so when I was taught the Chbab Srey in school I knew no different,” she says. “All I’d see looking around is what it teaches is true – women are supposed to be good housewives and must act accordingly to be a proper woman. I remember when I left my small world, thinking about some of the verses and thinking: this is not right.”
Written in the mid-19th century, the text is packed with poems that prescribe how a woman should behave. Verses dictate a wife should serve her husband, remain quiet and submissive, not walk quickly and know their place in the home. It also states education is more important for men than women.