Cover Female tuk-tuk driver Kim Sokleang with passengers at Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia (Photo: Agence France Presse)
Female tuk-tuk driver Kim Sokleang with passengers at Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia (Photo: Agence France Presse)
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For these tuk-tuk trailblazers, it’s been a bumpy ride so far, due to several obstacles such as low wages, poor working conditions and limited access to finance and training
Every day Roeung Sorphy deftly weaves through the streets of Siem Reap, zigzagging past cars, motorbikes and the occasional stray dog as she shepherds tourists to the famed Angkor Wat temple complex. But on the road to becoming one of Cambodia’s tiny number of female tuk-tuk drivers, the 37-year-old—who goes by Sopy—has to dodge not only other road users, but also a barrage of taunts, misogyny and prejudice.
Cambodia has taken legal and practical steps towards gender equality, but it remains a conservative, patriarchal society. And women are expected to run the home and family rather than seek paid work.
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“At first, they (male drivers) looked down on me ... they said we women should stay at home and clean dishes,” she told AFP, describing how she was verbally harassed and assaulted when competing for fares.
“But we keep persevering,” she said after she finished cleaning her tuk-tuk, passionately decorating it with blooming white lotus flowers.
Sopy, whose husband is also a tuk-tuk driver, got her start after borrowing US$3,000 to buy her tuk-tuk, and has now been driving through the shaded roads of Angkor Park for more than three years.
“We cannot just rely on husbands,” she said, urging more women to join the profession. “We will be strong like men.”
She charges roughly US$15 per passenger for a tour around Angkor Wat, a sprawling Unesco World Heritage site. And now, her male colleagues have finally accepted her.
“We have won their hearts, they’ve stopped discriminating against us. They think we are the same,” Sopy says. “I love the job. I think all women can do it.”
Persistent difficulties
A 2020 US Agency for International Development report said women were being held back by low wages, poor working conditions, a lack of childcare and limited access to finance and training. To help women in the male-dominated field, well-known driver Kim Sokleang—better known as Tuk-Tuk Lady—founded the Siem Reap Remorque Driver Association last year. Her group includes 20 female drivers, six of whom, like her, are single mothers.
“Discrimination against Cambodian women still exists,” Kim told AFP while waiting for passengers at the Bayon temple. After getting a divorce in 2013, Kim began driving a rickshaw in the capital Phnom Penh to feed her two sons.
“On the first day, I did not have any passengers,” Kim said, recalling how one woman refused to ride with her. Finding Phnom Penh tough, the 39-year-old moved to Siem Reap in 2015 to drive tourists. Initially it was rough, Kim said, describing how she would sob in her tuk-tuk when she failed to get a fare.
“They think women are too weak to hold the steering wheel, and women cannot work like others,” said Kim.
But her perseverance paid off: Tuk-Tuk Lady is now lauded by local and foreign tourists visiting Cambodia’s top tourism destination. Norwegian visitor Stine Solheim and a friend said they felt “safe” with Kim driving them, and were impressed with her efforts to stand up for women.
“They are really passionate about what they do and they really enjoy it and feel proud,” Solheim told AFP.
Challenging stereotypes
Tuk-tuks, two-wheeled carriages pulled by a motorbike, are one of Cambodia’s most famous means of transport.
No official statistics exist, but NGO Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association, estimates there are tens of thousands of tuk-tuk drivers working across Cambodia.
“At first, as a woman, it was difficult to accept myself being a tuk-tuk driver. I never thought I could do it,” said 36-year-old Sieng Meng. And according to Kim, part of that is down to the lack of government support.
Kim would like to see more women take up the career, and she plans to open a tuk-tuk restaurant when her team members retire.
“I’ve been really successful being a tuk-tuk driver,” she said.
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