Part 1 — Women’s Stories

27

Singapore

Household help or slaves? Filipinas in Singapore

Irene Hoe

This article, by Irene Hoe, appeared in the Singapore daily. The Straits Times in 1985.

The question was a simple one: should a maid have to wash the family car? The Filipino maid in question, who obviously didn't think this was part of her duties, wrote to The Straits Times recently to pose the question to a larger audience.

She received at least two responses, one of which was from another maid, who said she washed her employer's car and did not consider it a problem. She urged all maids to "start having the right attitude towards work by being happy and contented".

The other response was from an employer, "disgusted" by the first maid's attitude to her work, who argued that it was "common" to see Filipino maids washing cars. "An employer does not, therefore, make a ridiculous request when he asks his maid to wash the car two to four times a week," said the letter.

Both letters focussed on the attitude of the maid though, curiously enough, neither spoke of the attitude of Singaporeans to foreign maids which is, to my mind, the larger problem. There are horror stories about maids, to be sure. But the maids will eventually go home. The Singaporeans are here to stay. While there are undoubtedly many families and maids who have grown so fond of each other that parting will be a wrench, the way Singaporeans treat their maids is a national disgrace. I'm not only thinking of extreme cases — like the employer who was jailed for sexual abuse of his maid — but of quite ordinary, middle-class families who can afford to employ a maid but are actually out to secure a slave. If this comment seems rather harsh, consider the imaginative contract of employment offered by one of the better known agencies: under it, Filipino maids get $25¹ extra a month in return for giving up all their days off. The agency said that many clients had asked for an employment package which excluded rest days. If the contract were for a month, it would be trying enough. But can you imagine working for two years without a day off?

There is no way of telling how common this kind of contract is, but I know many employers who would like such an arrangement. If the tables were turned, and Singaporeans were required to work under those conditions,

28

every one of us would consider them inhuman. What such arrangements actually mean is that these Singaporean employers feel a maid has no right to a private life separate from her work and their household. There are employers who do not allow their maids use of the telephone, and others who regularly inspect their maid's belongings to make sure she hasn't stolen anything. Some would doubtless "hit the roof if they found that their maid was using contraceptives.

Some employers do not allow these women to make friends with other maids in the neighbourhood, for fear that they will compare notes. And some never allow the maids to leave the house. Why? "Many employers are concerned that their maids' performance may be affected if they get involved with men, or if they mingle too often with other maids who give bad advice," said the managing director of an agency.

The rationale is as rehearsed as it is patronising, and calls for some reading between the lines. Employers say that the telephone interrupts the maid's work and besides, the maids might make overseas calls. Those who are apprehensive about their maids comparing notes with others probably have reason to believe the comparison will be an individious one. And those who won't let their maids out at all are probably afraid the women will get pregnant and have to be sent home. These would all be very reasonable fears but for the fact that many of today's maids are not confirmed spinsters, nor are they generally naive illiterates fresh from the countryside and in need of an employer's protection.

One should not forget that foreign maids are adults — wives, mothers and single women in their twenties, at least. Many Filipino maids have had some tertiary education, and English-educated Singaporeans should find it easier to communicate with them than with the traditional household help.

What casts an even worse light on the bullying employers' attitude to foreign maids is their knowledge that, unlike a Singaporean who can always pack up and leave, these women have little alternative but to stay in their employment. Many would have borrowed heavily to come here in search of work, and being forced to go home would leave them worse off than if they had never left.

The real bottom line is that employers are afraid of losing the $5000² deposit which they would forfeit if, for example, the Labor Ministry came to know that the maid was pregnant. Does this, however, entitle them to deny her any companionship and life outside her work?

If I seem inordinately concerned about how ordinary maids are treated, it's because they have been much on my mind these past few weeks — even before I stood in line to apply for a work permit for a foreign maid a fortnight ago. Yes, I am worried that I may become what I abhor.

Notes

1. $ US 0.78.

2. $ US 102.