Killer beers

In Cambodia, more than 4,000‘girls’ are working as beer promoters in popular entertainment venues. Some are surviving on subsistence wages, many are exposed to extremely unsafe working environments, over half supplement their income with sex work, and around 20 percent have HIV/AIDS. Unsurprisingly, the mortality rate for these women is high and climbing. Catherine Clark, New Zealand Drug Foundation Policy Analyst reports on the exploitation of young women by multinational beer barons.

Tourists patronising Cambodian bars have no problem finding their favourite beer. In fact, thanks to breweries’ marketing tactics, they can be overwhelmed by choice of product.

For the past 10 years international beer giants such as Heineken and Carlsberg have made a fortune from Cambodian entertainment venues, thanks largely to their use of ‘beer promotion girls’ competing to sell the brands.

They’re usually young and attractive women outfitted in skimpy beer branded clothing, competing with others to meet their sales quota. They’re good at what they do - in the South EastAsia region, the girls bring in over 40 percent of beer sales.

Part of their success lies in drinking on the job, which is common as it is seen as critical to please customers and increase sales. One woman says, “I force myself to drink because if I don’t drink with the customers they don’t buy my beer. ”And it isn’t just one or two drinks either. A recent study found that the beer girls consumed more than 5 standard drinks per night on average.

Their drinking has direct and harmful effects on the health of these young women. Prevalence of HIV/AIDS is high, and is often a consequence of sex work. Sometimes the sex is non consensual and, even when it is, safe sex practices are often forgotten or poorly understood.

Harassment in the workplace is also very common, but is regarded as an occupational hazard rather than a violation of human rights. One survey found that 31 percent of women had to seek medical treatment because of violent harassment in the work place.

Health groups have spent years working with these women, focusing on their alcohol consumption and safe sex practices. And they have not been shy in taking on the breweries to achieve social change. Several NGOs and women’s rights organisations, have described the companies’ marketing tactics as unethical, forced and inhumane, and have accused them of turning a blind eye to the abhorrent working environments of the women.

Attempts have been made to build alliances with breweries and entertainment venue hosts, urging them to take a role in safeguarding the girls who work at their premises.

In 2006, six brewers formed Beer Selling Industry Cambodia (BSIC) and issued a code of conduct which aligned beer promoters’ employment status with Cambodian labour law. Previously,beer girls were rarely regarded as employees. Instead they were accounted for in the books as advertising and marketing costs, a scam denying them workers’ rights. The code also seeks to protect workers from sexual harassment, to put an end to forced workplace alcohol consumption, and ensure information and education is provided about safe sex. However, the code is silent on fair wages and the provision of financial support for HIV/AIDS treatment – issues the NGOs have included in their own Fair Trade Standard, which they’re promoting to all companies.

While improvements have been made, compliance with the code remains disputed by health groups who argue the brewers refuse to promote a safe and healthy workplace for beer girls.

The NGOs routinely expose the breweries’ breaches of the code on their campaign websites, where they also publish the experiences of beer girls and an In Memoriam list of women who are dead because of their working environment.

Travelling through South East Asia can be hot and sticky work, no doubt. But while tourists and bar patrons may become thirsty, it’s these girls who are literally ‘dying for a beer’.