Garment worker pageant troubles critics

The Ministry of Labour is bringing back a beauty pageant for garment workers, which unions and commentators have deemed a “regressive” distraction from deep-seeded inequalities in the sector. The government has again teamed with the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) and PNN TV for the pageant, which last year saw entrants compete for a first-place prize of $300 – more than double the $140 monthly minimum wage of a garment worker.

This year’s competition aims to “promote the beauty of the garment sector” and requires participants to be at least 1.58 metres tall (or 1.62 metres for men). William Conklin, country director at the Solidarity Center, said the contest was all surface, no substance.

read more http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national