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Cambodian American Women
Article submitted by: Christine Su INTRODUCTIONFollowing the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia in 1979, thousands of refugees fled the country. Approximately 145,000 refugees relocated to the United States between 1979 and 2002, with the majority arriving between 1980 and 1985. Of these refugees, a significant number of the women were widows and/or single mothers. These women began their lives as Americans with enormous complications, for in addition to surviving as individuals who had escaped a brutal regime, arriving in a country with an unfamiliar language and strange lifestyle, they also would be expected to fill both traditional Khmer (Cambodian) female roles as homemakers and caregivers, and new roles as heads of household and wage earners for their families. The experiences of Cambodian American women reflect both setbacks and successes, struggle and resilience in the face of astonishingly difficult circumstances. CAMBODIANS IN THE UNITED STATES Fractured Lives: The Refugee ExperienceMore than 200,000 individuals in the United States identify as Cambodian Americans, and in their communities they confront high levels of poverty, discrimination and harassment directed toward immigrants (see anti-Cambodian incidents, this volume), racial profiling by law enforcement, gang activity and violence, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and general lack of understanding of Khmer culture by the larger American society. As a result of the horrors of the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodian Americans live with memories of extreme trauma inconceivable to many Americans. Wives were separated from husbands, and parents from children; many witnessed torture and execution of family members, and watched as others died of starvation and disease. When the Khmer Rouge fell in 1979, thousands attempted to escape into Thailand. Not welcomed by the Thais, however, Cambodians lingered in refugee camps for months or years along the Thai-Cambodia border before relocating to third countries, including the United States. The conditions in the camps were substandard, as refugees lived with primitive sanitation, limited food, and insufficient medical care, as well as the fears and anxieties resulting from their earlier trauma. Those who relocated to the United States brought those fears and anxieties with them. Cambodian American women: Physical and Environmental ChallengesAll persons moving into new environments must make adjustments, some of which are physical, such as normalizing new time zones and overcoming related jet lag, changes in climate and weather, and differences in housing arrangements. Cambodian refugees also experienced feelings of hopelessness, guilt, fear, loneliness, and sadness as they attempted to comprehend their changed lives. The lifestyle changes and related emotional responses were intensified for Cambodian American women, for several reasons. First, Liang Tien notes that previous migrations from Asia were largely male—particularly young males who came to the United States in search of employment and economic prosperity. These men’s wives or other female relatives usually arrived later, once the men were established in their new environment. Cambodian women, however, like other refugee women, generally arrived in the United States at the same time as Cambodian men, and thus did not enter “prepared” environments, such as those structured by earlier male immigrants for their wives. Second, because so many men perished during the Khmer Rouge regime, a significant percentage of the refugees were women, including widows and/or single mothers. Anthropologist Judy Ledgerwood comments that “women are better able to survive conditions of severe malnutrition, fewer [Cambodian] women were targeted for execution because of connections to the old regime, and fewer women were killed in battles.” Cambodian American women thus represent resilient survivors, but also, those who grieve lost loved ones and wonder why they survived. Third, the expectations made of these women arriving in the United States involved shifting domestic power structures and related emotional, cultural, and psychological as well as physical issues. Increasingly, Cambodian Americans are becoming more knowledgeable about their rights as legal residents of the United States. They have begun to use the American legal and justice systems to assert and protect their civil and social rights. In 1993, for example, the Washington State Supreme Court found that the People's National Bank, based in Seattle, discriminated against Phanna Xieng, a Cambodian American (who had become a U.S. citizen in 1986), by denying him promotions over a number of years because of his accented English. Cambodian American Women: Economic, Social, and Cultural ChallengesTraditionally in Cambodia, women were in charge of child-rearing and household-related duties such as cooking, cleaning, laundering, and so forth. As in other cultures, too, women were and are believed to be the culture-bearers of Cambodian society. That is, Cambodian women carry the responsibility for transmitting Cambodian culture and traditions from one generation to the next. According to Cambodian traditional writings, the ideal Cambodian young woman is the pinnacle of virtue: innocent, modest, well-behaved (meaning shy and quiet), obedient, and deferential to men. While in reality Cambodian women have occupied various roles, have exercised considerable independence and authority (e.g., they typically managed family finances), and have been well-respected both within the family and the larger Cambodian community, much of Khmer “culture” is connected to visions and expectations of the ideal Khmer woman. Folktales, songs, proverbs, and other stories, for example, assert the merits of appropriate conduct, and the dreadful consequences of inappropriate conduct. Khmer women refer to the chbab srey (“rules for girls”), a traditional Cambodian text which describes appropriate female behavior, and cautions against leaving girls unsupervised or allowing them to become too independent. In particular, young, unmarried Cambodian females are not to leave the family home, lest they interact inappropriately with males. In order to sustain Cambodian identity (or “Khmerness”) in the United States, Cambodian American women feel pressured to behave in accordance with different aspects of this ideal; however, the circumstances of relocation often necessitate that they behave more assertively. Family economic needs require them to obtain employment outside the home, and often as such, to interact with both males and females. The stresses of refugee existence for both Cambodian American men and women, plus changing gender roles, can lead to marital conflict, including domestic violence. Witnessing violence or atrocities in Cambodia and consequent PTSD in refugee family members can exacerbate domestic violence, making situations even more dangerous. An Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence study found that at least 44-47 percent of Cambodian Americans interviewed knew a woman who had experienced domestic violence, and this figure is likely low. Many Cambodians do not trust police and authority figures and are thus hesitant to report abuse. Some husbands abuse their wives because they feel threatened by women’s purported “new” power, combined with their own frustration about not achieving their resettlement goals. Female-headed households in the United States in general, however, and female-headed households among minority groups in particular, are more likely to subsist below the poverty level than other types of households. While Asian Americans have often been heralded as the most educationally and financially successful minority group, this “model minority myth” belies the fact that while there have indeed been many successes, there are many Asian Americans who have little or no education and low or negligible incomes. (While the overall Asian American average income in 1999 was $57,874, compared to the overall American average of $50,046, for example, that for Cambodian Americans was only $35,434, nearly 40 percent less than the overall Asian American and 30 percent less than the national average). In 1990, 42 percent of Cambodian families were living below the poverty level. By 1999, the percentage had fallen to 29 percent; however, today more than 25 percent of Cambodian families still live below the poverty level, and many of these are female-headed households. Cambodian American Women: Generational Challenges and CorollariesYounger Cambodian American women often feel particularly stressed. They play multiple roles, including caretaker both for younger children (nearly three quarters of Cambodian families in 2000 had at least one family member under 18) and non-English speaking elders (undertaking daily tasks such as shopping, bill-paying, etc); student, if attending school; and employee, as many are expected to be the family wage-earners. The pressure to function in so many ways as Cambodian Americans, as well as to continue to be cultural representatives, feeling compelled both to maintain Khmerness as well as to acculturate, causes intense stress for young Cambodian American women. Additionally, women and youth tend to have limited access to community resources, including physical and mental health care. Many young Cambodian American women join gangs, in search of support and emotional connection. While viewed by the larger community as destructive or criminal, for these women, gangs provide a sense of identity, community, and seemingly unconditional support in return for loyalty, in contrast to the alienation and hostility of their individual lives. While gang activity may not be altogether positive, however, other strategies of empowerment can provide opportunities for all Cambodian American women, and particularly the youth, to impact their communities constructively. Providing positive role models for youth encourages them to both imitate and internalize their accomplishments, and to take responsibility for their own actions (Tang 2003). Recognizing this, Cambodian American women have begun to develop indigenous leaders and community organizers Mutual assistance associations (MAAs), grassroots, community-based organizations providing social and cultural services, began to arise soon after the peak arrivals of Cambodians in the 1980s (see Cambodian Americans and political empowerment, this volume). A significant number of these MAAs focus on issues which tend to disproportionately affect women, such as domestic violence, (lack of) sex education, health issues, and so forth (SEARC 2004). Importantly, women in these associations both celebrate Cambodian culture and discuss ways in which it might be modified (but importantly, not destroyed or replaced) to better suit life in the United States. Women can still be the culture-bearers, transmitting Cambodian ways of life from one generation to the next, incorporating new ways with old. These associations are an essential part of Cambodian American women’s lives, for through them “they learn about the importance of viewing themselves as primary agents of change, as a collective who share the responsibility of both transmitting and transforming the past” (Tang 182). BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hardin, James. “American Women: Introduction.” American Women: A Library of Congress Guide for the Study of Women's History and Culture in the United States (Library of Congress, 2001), cited by the American Folklife Center at If you use material from this article,
please cite it as you would any published source. |
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