Since 2004, Ing Kantha Phavi, has been serving as the Minister for Women’s Affairs, where she is responsible for its management and leadership. In addition to her ministerial post, she has been the Chairwoman of the Cambodian National Council for Women since 2004. Prior to becoming Minister, Dr. Phavi served for 5 years as Secretary of State of Women’s and Veterans’ Affairs.
Under her leadership, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs has succeeded in integrating gender equality measures into important laws such as the Land Law, the Decentralization and Deconcentration Organic Laws, and laws related to combating violence against women, such as the Anti-Trafficking of Human Beings and Sexual Exploitation Law, and the Law on Domestic Violence and Protection of the Victim. She continues to advocate for gender issues in state reforms and promote women’s economic empowerment and decision-making roles.
In the region and worldwide, Minister Phavi has contributed to the advancement of women’s agenda, especially at the East Asia Gender Equality Ministerial Meetings, the East Asia Ministerial Forums on Families and the ASEAN Ministerial Meetings on Women. In 2014, Minister Phavi was one of the nine women leaders awarded by the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Women Leadership Forum as “Most Outstanding Women”.
In the 1990s, Dr. Phavi worked in France as a private medical doctor and, later on, as director of the drugs trials department at ABR, a French firm involved in marketing and research for medical drugs.
Dr. Phavi also served as Deputy Secretary General in the medical nongovernment organization, Association des Medecins Cambodgiens, which provides medical and social assistance to Cambodia. Dr. Phavi holds a medical doctorate with a specialization in nutrition and tropical diseases from Saint Antoine Faculty, Paris and a brevet in Public Administration from Ecole Nationale d’Administration, Paris. In 2004, she participated in the Executive Leadership Program, Leaders in Development: Managing Political and Economic Reforms, at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.