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Opinion: Building Social Protection for Disability Caregivers
- Apr 25
- 5 min read
By Chhailim Vy
Junior Research Fellow
Future Forum's research fellow Chhailim Vy was published in Cambodianess on April 25th, 2026. Check out the original article HERE, and read it below!
Unpaid care work remains largely overlooked due to social norms, despite being one of the most essential forms of support within families, especially those with members with disabilities. The burden falls primarily on women, undermining gender equality, because their work remains invisible and receives limited government support.
This issue is illustrated by Savet who lives in Koh Dach, Phnom Penh. She has a daughter diagnosed with an illness that affects her body, making it difficult to move and gradually causing loss of certain bodily functions.
As a mother, caring for her disabled child is not seen as a burden. It becomes her responsibility. In Cambodian society, this action is perceived as normal and mothers are expected to care for family members. This tradition creates the expectation that women should perform unpaid care work.
Unpaid care work includes household chores and caring for family members, with added responsibilities when a family member has a disability. Article 13 of the Law on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, places responsibility on parents or guardians to care for their disabled family members.
This means there is no government care support system, and all responsibility falls on family members. UN Women data shows that Cambodian women aged 15 and older spend 12.5 percent of their time on unpaid care work, while men spend only 1.3 percent. Taken together, these factors show that caring for disabled family members mostly falls on women.
Health and Financial Impacts
Cambodian women tend to respond to care work whether they have a job or are housewives. As caregivers, women — whether mothers, wives or sisters — dedicate time and energy to caring for a disabled family member, whether physically or mentally disabled.
In some cases, caregivers feel mentally drained when their family member is in a hopeless situation. Because the priority is the family member with a disability, caregivers often neglect their own health.
A study by RTI International of 58 parent caregivers shows that 88 percent felt worried, stressed or emotionally overwhelmed because of their child’s disability. Emotional stress may also arise when a family member faces discrimination in the community.
However, financial concerns are a major issue. A report from Access Cambodia reports that the national poverty rate in 2021 was 17.5 percent for people without disabilities and 21.1% for those with disabilities. Families with disabled members often spend more than families without disabilities, including on medicine, assistive equipment such as wheelchairs, and regular check-ups.
Despite high financial demands, household income is often low, as caregiving responsibilities and unpaid housework — largely undertaken by women — do not generate income.
The situation worsens when the disabled member was previously the main breadwinner, leaving the family without one, while the caregiver also has no stable income, making the family financially fragile.
Cambodia has a support system for people with disabilities and families in poverty, including social cards for financial and welfare benefits, but it is insufficient. There is no support system for caregivers of disabled family members.
Caregivers should receive stronger government support, including free health check-ups and a monthly stipend. A social security card, similar to a poverty or disability card, could formally recognize their caregiving role, provide easier access to hospitals and health services, and help cover daily needs.
Why Only Caregivers of Disabled Family Members?
Care work in the family includes cooking, cleaning and other household duties essential for fulfilling basic needs, but not considered a social responsibility. Women caregivers in Cambodia, providing care to disabled family members as well as children and the elderly, reflect deep-rooted gender norms.
Indeed, one might wonder why the focus should be on caregivers of family members with disabilities, unlike caring for a child who will grow up or elderly people without serious health conditions.
Caregiving for people with disabilities differs because it is often long-term or lifelong, more intensive and requires continuous physical, emotional and sometimes medical support. The relationship between a person with a disability and their caregiver is like that of an employer and employee, but without a contract — only a strong bloodline tie.
Without recognition or incentives, a disabled family member may be seen as a burden, and in extreme cases, may even be abandoned.
Caregiver Identification Card System
A caregiver card should be provided to the family member who performs most care tasks for a person with a disability, including support with daily activities and basic needs. To empower people with disabilities and respect their rights, people with disabilities should provide information about their daily lives, well-being, and the caregivers who support them.
To ensure accountability and recognition, the caregiver card should be linked to the disability card of the person being cared for. This connection reflects the caregiver’s responsibility and helps prevent abandonment or neglect. Cardholders would receive benefits, including free or discounted healthcare services, assistance with medical treatment fees, and a monthly stipend to support themselves financially.
Caregiving should be understood broadly, not tied to gender, and based on consent and actual caregiving practices. In some cases, families share caregiving responsibilities. For example, parents may care for a disabled child together. Policies could allow joint caregiver recognition or designate a primary caregiver while acknowledging shared responsibility.
The counter-argument
However, the process may be influenced by political-economic factors, as key decisions are made by local authorities, including communes, sangkats, districts and village leaders, who evaluate eligibility for a caregiver card. Priority should be given to poor or marginalized families, but bias may occur when decisions are influenced by personal relationships rather than need.
Exploitation within families is also possible, as men are often considered heads of households and may control official documents, even if they are not primary caregivers. Local authorities — as the most powerful actors — should ensure transparency and equity by involving NGOs, incorporating input from persons with disabilities, and using community records to identify caregivers who genuinely provide care and need support.
The card process may also generate administrative and financial costs, including verification, monitoring, data management and coordination among authorities and stakeholders. Expanding the system without proper planning may strain resources or reduce funds for other social protection programs.
A Practical and Humane Policy Solution
Implementing a caregiver ID card linked to the disability card system will have positive outcomes. Caregivers will receive formal recognition for their often-overlooked role.
Linking caregiver information to disability records will improve monitoring, reduce neglect or abandonment, and strengthen family accountability. For people with disabilities, the system will improve care quality, as caregivers’ well-being directly affects their ability to provide consistent, attentive and effective care.
Better care supports the growth and development of people with disabilities. Overall, this approach will reduce inequality, improve the well-being of caregivers and people with disabilities, and contribute to a more inclusive and supportive social protection system in Cambodia.
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