Increasingly, Khmer women are breaking the code of conduct of the “good Khmer woman” by venturing outside of their homes in search of paid employment. Hundreds of thousands have migrated to cities, such as Phnom Penh and Siem Reap; many others have travelled to work in other countries, such as Malaysia, the Republic of Korea, Thailand and even Saudi Arabia. While male migrants generally find themselves working in offshore fishing, construction sites and plantations, Cambodian female migrants work in domestic service, fish processing, shrimp peeling, restaurants, plantations, factories and prostitution. Compared with men, women migrate for a wider range of reasons, beyond that of direct economic need.
