Tong Siv Eng (31 October 1919 – 12 June 2001) was a Cambodian politician. She was the first female member of parliament, and the first female cabinet minister, in Cambodia.

Life

She was the daughter of a school principal who encouraged her to study. As there were no

secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final pha ...

for females in Cambodia, she was given a scholarship to study in

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. When she returned to Cambodia, she married the courtier Pung Peng Cheng in 1939. She was a tutor of the royal children, and she and her spouse came to be personal advisers of king Sihanouk. In 1958,

women suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

was introduced in Cambodia. In the following elections the same year, Tong Siv Eng became the first and only woman elected to parliament. She served as state secretary in 1958–59, minister of Social Action in 1959–61, and minister of Health in 1963–68. Women were legally subservient to men in the Cambodian civil code of 1958, and there were only three other examples of women in higher positions in Cambodia during the 1960s:

Tip Man Tip commonly refers to: * Tip (gambling) * Tip (gratuity) * Tip (law enforcement) * another term for Advice Tip or TIP may also refer to: Science and technology * Tank phone, a device allowing infantry to communicate with the occupants of an armo ...

(1962-66), the minister of education Diep Dinar (1966-70), and the Undersecretary of State for Tourism Nou Neou (1969-70). Sihanouk described the attempted implementation of the government’s retraining programme för sex workers as follows: :"One day, Her Excellency luok jamdev Pung Peng Cheng ong Siv Eng Minister of Social Action within the Royal Sangkum Reastr Niyum government, went to the prostitutes in order to tell them this: ‘Ladies, the profession that you follow, although officially recognised by the Sangkum Reastr Niyum national administration, is not at all honourable. It is time that you change your profession. With your agreement, I will contact the directors of our factories, textile factories in particular. Ladies, you will become honourable and respectable workers in our lovely factories.’ The prostitutes contacted, in all good faith, by Her Excellency Minister Pung Peng Cheng, responded: ‘Luok jamdev, look at our long nails, shaped, filed, and their beautiful varnishes of red, pink, and purple! Is it that our hands and our fingers, destined for a sensual profession, can reasonably be used for a profession as primitive, as strenuous as that of a worker in a textile factory, or any other?’" Tong Siv Eng also served as editor of the ''Samlanh Neary'' ("Woman's Voice"). She left Cambodia after the coup of 1970. Tong Siv Eng played an important part in the peace negotiations, as she arranged the meetings between Sihanouk and

Hun Sen Hun Sen (; km, ហ៊ុន សែន, ; born 5 August 1952) is a Cambodian politician and former military commander who has served as the prime minister of Cambodia since 1985. He is the longest-serving head of government of Cambodia, and o ...

in 1987 and 1988. She died of a heart attack on 12 June 2001, aged 81.

References

* Jacobsen, Trudy (2008). Lost Goddesses: The Denial of Female Power in Cambodian History. NIAS Press. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tong, Siv Eng 1919 births 2001 deaths Government ministers of Cambodia Women government ministers of Cambodia 20th-century Cambodian women politicians 20th-century Cambodian politicians