Cambodia’s female representation in the National Assembly has fallen sharply since 2023, with the Minister of Women’s Affairs citing political barriers, the lack of quotas and family responsibilities as key factors keeping women out of leadership roles
All 125 members of the National Assembly convened on July 11 to discuss and approve changes to Article 33 of Cambodia’s Constitution, on 11 July 2025. Kiripost via the National Assembly of Cambodia Facebook page
Despite progress in promoting women in public service, Cambodia continues to lag behind on female political representation, with the number of women in the National Assembly falling sharply in recent years, according to UN Women data.
The data revealed that as of early 2026, women held just 13.6 percent of seats in the National Assembly – 17 out of 125 members – placing Cambodia 152nd out of 184 countries globally. In the Senate, women account for 19.4 percent of seats, or 12 out of 62 members in decision-making roles.
United Nation Cambodia also highlights the gap of women contributing in leadership amid the Cambodia government requiring one in three village leaders to be women in its decree.
The decline marks a significant drop from 2023, when women held 20.8 percent of seats in the lower house, equivalent to 26 out of 125 seats. Cambodia’s ranking also fell 44 places, from 108th to 152nd, within three years.
While representation in the Senate improved slightly from 16.1 percent in 2023 to 19.4 percent in 2026, women remain underrepresented across senior government positions.
According to figures released in January 2026, only three of Cambodia’s 27 ministries are led by women – equivalent to 11.1 percent. These include Minister of Women’s Affairs Ing Kantha Phavi, who has held the role since 2004; Minister of Culture and Fine Arts Phoeurng Sackona, in office since 2013; and Minister of Commerce Cham Nimul, appointed in 2023.
United Nation Cambodia has also highlighted the leadership gap, despite a government decree requiring one in three village leaders to be women.
‘Quality is rising’ despite falling numbers:
Speaking to Kiripost, the Minister of Women’s Affairs acknowledged the decline in the number of women in parliament but argued that the quality of female leadership is improving.
“Even though this year the number of women [in senate or parliament] is decreasing, we see quality is rising. The President of the National Assembly of Cambodia is a woman. This is marked as a historical event in Cambodia because we have never had a woman [in this position] before. We also have women as committee members in the National Assembly,” she said, adding that quality is imperative.
Kantha Phavi said the Ministry of Women’s Affairs is conducting further analysis to identify the root causes behind the decline in female representation in parliament.
Political barriers and lack of quotas:
The minister identified three key barriers limiting women’s participation in senior political leadership: political factors, the absence of quotas and personal or family considerations.
According to Kantha Phavi, the low number of women within political parties remains one of the main obstacles preventing more women from being elected to senior government positions. She added that the ministry plans to advocate with political parties to place more women in senior roles and higher positions on electoral candidate lists.
“We will do advocacy with parties because we want to promote women, unless those parties also help encourage women to sit in the high positions and have their names in the election list,” she told Kiripost.
She also pointed to the lack of formal gender quotas in politics, despite Cambodia adopting broader gender-inclusive policies in public administration.
“In the past, Cambodia has made progress in implementing gender equality strategies without using quotas, but we have special measures in the public administration sector. We don’t talk about the politics sector, but we talk about public administration,” Kantha Phavi said.
“During the Hun Sen ruling time as prime minister, he set a policy to give space for new officer positions for women between 20 to 50 percent, which also contributes to promoting women’s participation in the public sector.”
According to figures released by Minister of Civil Service Hun Many, women accounted for 10,786 decision-making roles at national and sub-national government levels out of 39,594 positions during the first three months of 2024, equivalent to 27 percent.
Politics seen as high risk for women:
Kantha Phavi also said family responsibilities and the financial risks associated with politics discourage many Cambodian women from entering the political arena.
“The third factor is related to women themselves. Mostly, if we talk about the political sector, we need a lot of financial resources. For women, whenever the men [husbands] have a high income, it is ok,” she said.
“Women also want to stay at home in order to take care of their family and house. This is the nature of women. and I’m saying this also based on research. We notice that the majority of women in this generation concentrate on the livelihood of their family. Political work also has a lot of risks, therefore a lot of women don’t want to be involved in politics.”
The ministry is now working to encourage more young women and girls to enter politics and leadership roles across both the public and private sectors.
“Women’s voices and diversity are crucial for further innovation and social development. Cambodia is attempting to promote the number of women in the legislative and executive branches of both the House and Senate,” Kantha Phavi said.
“Diversity and inclusion foster faster and innovative development. As we can see, whenever there is inclusion and diversity, we see development has sustainability.”
