Cambodia’s progress towards gender equality is paying off, with more and more women joining the business sector helping to lift the socioeconomic status of females.
Apsara Media Services (AMS) executive director Nouth Roatha believes Cambodian women are beginning to make headlines in the business sector – fearlessly exploring hitherto unknown territories such as the financial and banking sector, education, e-commerce, fashion and SMEs, among many others.
“Gender revolution has been going on in almost every country in the world. By providing educational infrastructure, women can access better education, enhance their skills and abilities, gain access to the employment market and use financial resources to start their own businesses.
“All these lead women to play a role in the employment market and contribute significantly to socioeconomic development as a whole. It is only right that contributions to national economic development come from all people, men and women, without discrimination.
“Nowadays, we see that women run most micro, small and medium enterprises. Leaders and women entrepreneurs have indeed made great positive contributions to the economics of wealth creation.
“The main scope of women’s participation is to identify and evaluate the role of gender equality and women’s entrepreneurship in the process of socio-economic development.
“A more gender-equal society not only improves the socioeconomic status of women, but also leads to faster and more equitable growth trends, such as poverty reduction, environmental, human resources sustainability, innovation and sustainable development, and wider decision making,” said Roatha.
Roatha reached the coveted post of executive director of AMS – a newly formed television and multimedia channel – through perseverance and the desire to excel in the corporate world.
Her knack of solving problems in the work environment and ability to manage staff at all levels are contributing to her career growth.
Diligently combining her soft skills – personal traits such as confidence, being loyal to the job as well as her staff and clients, and her propensity for hard work – with her management acumen to accomplish tasks has seen her achieve her company’s growth targets.
“Knowing your strengths and continuing to improve your weaknesses is good preparation for the competition.
“At the same time, you need to have a clear strategic plan, know your competitors, know how to analyse and understand the market turnover of the business, and be flexible and address all challenges.
“I think that having a wide range of knowledge, problem solving skills and experience is very important for women. If you are selected to be the top leader in any institution then you really need to be the solver of all the problems that are happening or may continue to happen in the future.
“Therefore, while women have the opportunity to express themselves, do not forget to continue to develop your knowledge and skills to be even better,” said Roatha.
Roatha said a greater number of self-confident women in Cambodia, who are no longer merely judged on their looks and behaviour, have come a long way to become part of the nation’s economic growth story.
“In recent years, there have been many women who, as well as their skills and abilities, have more self-confidence and get more support from their families and society as a whole.
“And with their abilities, and having taken the opportunities to develop themselves, they have attained top leadership positions in both public and private institutions,” she said.
