Promoting Women Leadership in Cambodian HE

On Tuesday 17th of March, Southampton Education School hosted a hybrid seminar as part of its seminar series, bringing together international perspectives on gender and educational leadership.

The event welcomed Professor Liz Jackson (University of Hong Kong) for a discussion based on insights from her recent work on women’s leadership and gender in education. The seminar offered a critical examination of whether gender still matters in education globally, challenging assumptions that gender equity has already been achieved in educational spaces.

Co-led by Dr Taehee Choi, the discussion also featured findings from the SEAMEO–British Council funded project, Promoting Women Leadership in Cambodian Higher Education: Challenges and Future Directions.

The seminar created an important dialogue between broader international scholarship on gender and context-specific evidence from Cambodia. While global narratives often suggest that education has become an equitable space due to women’s numerical participation, the talk highlighted a more complex reality: representation does not…

• The project is part of a broader British Council–SEAMEO RIHED initiative engaging 35 higher education institutions across Southeast Asia to build more gender‑equitable leadership cultures.​

• Key milestones include: participation in the regional launch and leadership forum; collaborative research with Cambodian partner universities; the Battambang workshop; contribution to the GEDI Forum in London; and creation of infographics, briefs and a user‑friendly report.

• Looking ahead, the project aims to deepen institutional partnerships, strengthen “gender ambassador” networks, and link Cambodian experiences to ongoing SEA‑UK GEDI challenge grant activities.​

Please join your discussion group on the project website, subscribe for updates, or contact the team for collaboration.

The project sheds light on how Cambodian women academics navigate leadership pathways in universities, revealing both persistent barriers and powerful sources of change. ​

Key findings

·        Internalised doubt, but not lack of ability: Many women describe feeling “not ready” for leadership, worrying they cannot make decisions or fearing criticism, even when they have strong qualifications and experience.

·        The double shift as a structural barrier: Women consistently juggle full academic workloads with intensive caregiving, making leadership roles—often linked to long hours, travel and evening meetings—feel like an unsustainable extra burden rather than a natural next step.

·        Informal cultures matter: Male‑dominated networks, late‑night socialising, and linguistic norms that code leaders as male quietly gatekeep access to information, mentoring and decision‑making spaces.Enablers of women’s leadership

• The project has produced short policy briefs and a simple synthesis report designed for busy decision‑makers in universities and ministries, grounded in data from Cambodian higher education institutions.​

• Recommendations focus on practical steps: embedding GEDI in strategic plans, improving data on leadership pipelines, resourcing gender focal points, and aligning HR procedures with gender‑equitable leadership goals.

• The materials also connect Cambodian experience to wider regional commitments under the British Council–SEAMEO RIHED programme on strengthening leadership with gender equity, diversity and inclusivity.​