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Photos of beer promotion women at work

Memorial list of "beer girls" & entertainment industry colleagues in Siem Reap - prepared by Tra Tim, Pan Sophear, Srei Neang & Jillian Schuster.

YOU CAN SUPPORT THE HIV/AIDS PREVENTION WORK IN CAMBODIA THROUGH A CHARITABLE DONATION.

This website tells the stories of the beer promotion women of Cambodia, through interviews, photos, video clips, and/or obituaries.Beer promotion women (called locally, beer girls) exclusively sell one brand of beer in bars and restaurants. It is usual for them to have to sell one case of beer per night in return for a monthly salary averaging approx $US55 - about half the income needed to support their family. To suppliment their income, about half accept propositions from tourists and local beer drinkers and exchange sex for money.

Condom use following beer drinking is low; HIV/AIDS prevalence averages 20% for the past 7 years. While, they may sell $13,000 worth of beer annually for their company, they are paid $600-$800 and cannot afford the yearly $360 cost for life-prolonging anti-retrovirals. Death follows from 3 months to 2 years after diagnosis; beer girls are replaced with new young women from the countryside, often with less than 1 hour of training.

Most beer companies though aware of government reports, research (a pdf copy of an article published in the Asian Psychologist 2003) and press stories, have so far declined to play fair with these women. Usually they describe them as 'promotional or advertising costs' in their annual reports, rather than as salaried or commissioned workers or subcontractors.

This representation of the women works to justify their refusal to 1) pay proper wages, 2) provide health education and 3) provide company health benefits, including antiretroviral treatments as needed. The reduction of labour costs in this way may increase corporate/shareholder profits, while ultimately proving deadly to one fifth of the female workforce. See our April 2008 press release

Beer sellers in Siem Reap form a Workers Union (Aug, 2010) Read more

Canadian and Cambodian researchers find beer industry response ineffective: "Toxic" workplace conditions still exist in 2009-10 for women selling all major brands of beer and spirits in Cambodia Read press release (April 2010)

Health, safety and security for Cambodian women beer sellers were substandard in 2009: Urgent actions are still required by all major brewers (AB/INBEV, Carlsberg, HEINEKEN/ Asia Pacific Breweries, SAB/Miller, Guinness, San Miguel, Bavaria, Asahi, etc.) Read 2010 report by Michelle Green & Ian Lubek (pdf)