Social Protection and the Gendered Impacts of COVID-19 in Cambodia: Longitudinal Research to 'Build Back Better' in the Global Garment Industry

COVID-19大流行对全球服装业产生了重大影响，不仅对柬埔寨的经济至关重要，而且对其100万工人也至关重要，其中80%是女性。许多服装厂中断生产，1/4的工人被解雇或暂时停职。该部门的正式社会保障虽然在多方利益攸关方的努力下有所改善，但仍然薄弱和脆弱。混合方法的纵向研究将跟踪和放大200名女工在应对COVID-19大流行的财务影响时的经验和应对机制。该项目的跨学科团队来自人文地理学、政治经济学和组织研究领域，他们将对正式和非正式社会保护所产生的风险和复原力的潜在和差异决定因素产生新的知识。这项雄心勃勃的研究将把政策重点放在学习“重建更好”的社会保障上，以预防和减轻疫情和未来风险事件的长期影响。我们的方法将妇女在规划和决策中的代表性作为“缝合更好”公正和有弹性的服装供应链的关键，以实现性别平等（SDG 5），包容性经济增长和体面工作（SDG 8）。该项目的影响，在其18个月的生命周期内，将迫使其伙伴关系，并积极召集，政府（柬埔寨劳工部、英国大使馆）、监管机构（劳工组织、柬埔寨改善工厂组织），工业（柬埔寨服装制造商协会、H&M）、智库（ODI）、工人组织（卡图，柬埔寨唯一由女性领导的联盟）和妇女媒体（妇女媒体中心和信使乐队）。

The COVID-19 pandemic is having significant repercussions on the global garment industry, of huge importance not only to Cambodia's economy, but also to its 1 million workers, 80% of whom are women. Many garment factories are interrupting production with the effect that 1/4 of workers have been dismissed or temporarily suspended. Formal social protection in the sector, though improving due to multi-stakeholder efforts, is weak and fragile. Mixed-method longitudinal research will track and amplify the experiences and coping mechanisms of 200 women workers as they navigate the financial repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The project's interdisciplinary team from human geography, political economy, and organisation studies will generate new knowledge on underlying and differentiating determinants of risk and resilience arising from formal and informal social protections.The ambitious study will focus its policy attention on learning to 'Build Back Better' social protection to prevent and mitigate longer-term impacts of the pandemic and future risk events. Our approach centres women's representation in planning and decision-making as critical to 'stitching back better' just and resilient garment supply chains to make progress towards gender equality (SDG5), inclusive economic growth and decent work (SDG8). The project's impact, within its 18-month lifetime, will be compelled by its partnerships with, and pro-active convening together, of government (Cambodian Ministry of Labor, British Embassy), regulators (ILO, Better Factories Cambodia), industry (Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, H&M), think tanks (ODI), workers' organisations (CATU, the only female-led union in Cambodia), and women's media (Women's Media Center and the Messenger Band).