i dont think that maids are slaves. An example would be the way my sister treats her maid. My sister would bring her along for outdoor trips. And she dont overwork her. The maid would usually be in bed around 10pm. My sister treats the maid as part of family. There are laws to protect maids interest. Yes, the current laws might not be sufficient enough. But I have seen improvement in the law on maid interests. Overall, its the way the employer treats her maid.
I do not think that maids in Singapore are treated as slaves.
The laws in Singapore present protect much of the maid's interest and I would say, majority of the maids these days do get much more freedom as compared in the past.
They get to have gathering with friends or go shopping.
Whether maids are seen as slaves or helpers depends much on the employer's mentality.
There is only so much law can do to protect and reserve rights for the maids. It is ultimately the employers and employees attitude for each other that makes the difference.
I agreed with leonard's comments. Times have changed. In the past, maids do not need to be multi-task. But for now, they are just like a 24-hour robot working round the clock and everything at home is in their control. So, if the owner of the house happens to see anything undone, he/she will ask for a change of maid. Being a maid is not easy too.
OH. I OWN A MAID AT HOME. I TREAT HER AS A SLAVE. WOAH.
Nononooo maids are not treated as slaves in Singapore(in general). Why? I see maids going out during the PublicHolidays and/or weekends dating their boyfriends(usually bangalas)~ They are just like part of the family(helpers, but they still have their own life), NOT slaves.
What more. Sometimes the life of a maid, is even much more better than us. They can afford to get branded stuff and eat good food ~~ Do we get often get them?
Oh yes. I agree with Geena. The law have already protected much of the maids' interests. The whole thing is just something that got to do with the attitudes shown.
Hi all! How about the rights of a maid? They are after all human beings who need sufficient rest and recreation. Maids need to look after young children, take care of the elderly, etc. The mental and emotional stress can be tremendous! Can someone do some research on what employment rights maids have? In Singapore, employers only need to give 1 day off a month to their maids. Is this enough? See this website below for a report from the Human Rights Watch: http://hrw.org/reports/2005/singapore1205/1.htm#_Toc121133630
Though in Singapore, employers only need to give their maids off once per month, it is not commonly seen.
I would say majority of the employers still DO give their maids off every week.
I understand that maids too are human but what do we say about maids who go against their employers and abused the employer's child in return for anger?
I do respect the fact that there are employers who treats maids like slaves and abusing their authority.
All I can say is that as human beings, we should reserve respect for one another.
No, I don’t think maids are treated as slaves in Singapore and I hope it will never happen.
As I can see, they do have their own time with their friends in the weekends.
Treating them as a slave or helper depends on the employer’s mentality. By right, there is law to protect them if they were treated badly by their employers but there is always by left when we do not know what happens behind closed doors where law doesn’t work.
Though I never have maid helping my family throughout my life, they are still human and they still have human rights. For those who abuse their maids, is the same that they abused another person and deserve to be punished.
They work for a good reason, to help and in the same time to support their family with the money they earn.
What makes us think that maids are being treated as slaves in Singapore?It is true that has been several reports of people abusing their maids but how many maids are there in Singapore?.It would be a generalistion if we conclude that maids are treated like slaves just because it has been reported in the news several times.
I agree with what most people from the class said,most of the maids in Singapore are treated properly and some even have the time to go shopping.
Hi class, I've copied some excerpts from interviews with maids here in Singapore. What do you think?
"I was not allowed to go outside. I never went outside, not even to dump the garbage. I was always inside, I didn’t even go to the market. I felt like I was in jail. It was truly imprisonment. I was not allowed to turn the radio on either…. I could only see the outside world when I hung clothes to dry." — Sri Mulyani (not her real name), Indonesian domestic worker, age thirty, Singapore, February 19, 2005
"I was afraid if I ran away, I would be caught by the police. Madam often got angry with me, complained to the agency, and the agency also got angry with me. The agent asked, “What do you want?” I said, “I want to die, ma’am, because the people here are cruel, everything I do is wrong, I’m always called idiot and stupid.” [It got so bad,] I really didn’t know what to do, so I drank poison for rats and cockroaches. I lost consciousness, and Madam brought me to the hospital…. The police told me it was wrong to try suicide. When the incident happened, I had been working exactly seven months. I had earned S$90 [U.S.$53]." —Muriyani Suharti (not her real name), domestic worker, age twenty-two, Singapore, March 8, 2005
Maybe the question isn't about whether maids are treated as slaves but whether they are treated equally/ fairly.
Please see another excerpt from the Human Rights Watch report:
"Singapore needs to do more to address the underlying inequities and lack of protection that result in widespread abuse. Singapore’s Employment Act and Workmen’s Compensation Act should be amended to include domestic workers. These laws guarantee weekly rest days, limitations on work hours, and regular payment of wages and overtime. They also regulate salary deductions for debt payments and address compensation for workplace injuries. Singapore also should institute stronger mechanisms for inspecting workplaces and employment agencies. The accreditation program, though a positive step, needs improved protections for domestic workers’ rights, including greater transparency about recruitment and placement charges, and detailed provisions on working conditions such as weekly rest days."
Do you think more needs to be done to protect maids in Singapore?
Quoting from the newpaper 12 July 2007 article, "Fewer maids abuser here","the number of employers who were charged in court or given police warnings for maid abuse went down from 157 in 1997 to 89 the next year and dropped further to 32 in 2005." The government has done a lot in the pass few years to help reduce the cases of maid abuses.Of course,it would be better if more can be done but this shows that the government is not ignoring the issue.
Also from the article,"Also last year, a survey of 526 maids by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports' Feedback Unit found that 92 per cent are happy working here."526 people is a good sample size and with 92% being happy working here,it shows that maids are not treated as bad as we thought.
i agree that maids are not slaves. although we paid to have their service, we cannot order them around without limits. we can ask them to do housework like what some mothers do themselves, cooking, washing clothes, cleaning the house, etc, but we cannot flood them with too much work as this will give them stress. note: they are human, not robots
"Do you think maids are treated as slaves in Singapore? Think about whether the law sufficiently protects their interests."
erm, i think maids now are still treated as maids and not slaves. well, i treat my maid well, i treat her like my own elder sister. sometimes i do really feel like i have become a servant like her. helping her along the way.
if you are talking about the person in the newspaper that actually sends his/her maids to the friends house to help clean up, that is slavery.
"How about the rights of a maid? They are after all human beings who need sufficient rest and recreation. Maids need to look after young children, take care of the elderly, etc. The mental and emotional stress can be tremendous! Can someone do some research on what employment rights maids have? In Singapore, employers only need to give 1 day off a month to their maids. Is this enough?"
from what i know, not all maids are able to do them unless they are trained to do so. example taking care of the elderly, agencies do have certain certified maids to do the proper job.
i dont tink maids are slaves but helpers.As i have a maid at home and we treat her well.She is a good helper to us as my parents need to work and she is the only one who tidy my house. But how do you define slaves?is asking her keep doing all the house work counted as slaves? everyone has a different views thus maid can be slaves or helpers.but to me i tink maids is a helpers
Yes. I think that Singaporean treat their maids as slaves. Nowadays, people tend to violate the human rights and start abusing their maids when they did a minor mistakes. Maids tend to get locked up like a prisoner at home, they cannot go out but to stay at home to do chores.
From my perspective, maids are considered as helpers when we first hire her. As time goes by, good employers will treat their maid as part of their family. Fallacious employers will treat their maids shabbily. To illustrate, they regard their maids as robots, giving them little rest but tons of work to do. Employers will scold and punish them for the slightest mistake they made by deducting their salary etc. Some employers may even threaten their maids and the maids have to suffer in silence.
However, we have to put ourselves in the employers’ shoes too. Since there are cases of maids escaping after stealing money from their owners, I believe some employers are afraid that they may encounter such cases themselves and hence the need to “instill discipline” in their maids, which may come a bit harsh. I believe that what the employers want is a maid that they can trust and to establish a good relationship with her.
Maids are definately helpers rather than slaves.I have a maid whom have an off day once every 2 weeks.Shes a great helper to us as she take care of my grandmother and help to do some laundry as well. we dont give her alot of housework as we know shes not a robot but a human. However some selfish people tend to hire maid to do all jobs with just a merely paid salary.Some maids will be abused for not doing the jobs well.They are humans too, cant they afford mistake? To me, Maids are definately a good helper to us.
Maids are human beings, not robots. If you expect them to be slaves in Singapore, then one will have to let them express unsatisfaction. A happy worker is a productive worker. People should be smart enough to realise that. It is your best interest to give those working for them fair and honest wages and welfare since they have traveled far all the way here from their own country. Some of them do not have their own house , owning high amount of renting payment from their landlord. Reminding of singaporean maids , they are usually treated as slaves and some even had been badly abused ,in addition with horrible nightmare memories . Working from 6 am in the morning to 12pm , and that almost 18 hours! Imagine that they worked almost 2 times of singaporean working hours. Moreover they are also fed up with little food daily and had to endure their owner scolding when they do not meet up their owner high expectation. Where is the maid rights??? No wonder recently, there has been news reports of maid taking revenges on their employees. However I think singaporeans should respect maid rights and not treat them like robots.
Well i would say, some maids are treated as slaves but some are not. The reason why maids are treated as slaves, is mainly due to the employer. Usually during this situation when maids are treated as slaves, i strongly believe that the employer is mentally unstable. Maybe drunk or feeling frustrated. Yes i believe Singapore law has sufficiently protects their interests. As currently we did not hear any news about maids being treated as slaves.
Every now and then we always seem to hear of maids being abused or tortured by their employers.But in general i don't think that's always the case.In my opinion i think there is on a handful of employers who go on to abuse their maids.Most of them treat their maids friendly and even give them days off(usually on sundays) just so that they can take a well deserved break from their work.
people with conscience will not treat their maid as slaves. Maids are also human, they also have feelings. some even have their own family in their hometown. Just that they cannot afford to live like how we live, doesn't mean that we can treat them as slaves.
I ever see adults bring their maid to restuarants to eat, the adults let their maid choose what she want to eat. people treat their maids like their family member.
As long as people hiring maids are not pervertic then maids are safe to work here.
24 comments:
i dont think that maids are slaves. An example would be the way my sister treats her maid. My sister would bring her along for outdoor trips. And she dont overwork her. The maid would usually be in bed around 10pm. My sister treats the maid as part of family.
There are laws to protect maids interest. Yes, the current laws might not be sufficient enough. But I have seen improvement in the law on maid interests. Overall, its the way the employer treats her maid.
I do not think that maids in Singapore are treated as slaves.
The laws in Singapore present protect much of the maid's interest and I would say, majority of the maids these days do get much more freedom as compared in the past.
They get to have gathering with friends or go shopping.
Whether maids are seen as slaves or helpers depends much on the employer's mentality.
There is only so much law can do to protect and reserve rights for the maids. It is ultimately the employers and employees attitude for each other that makes the difference.
I agreed with leonard's comments. Times have changed. In the past, maids do not need to be multi-task. But for now, they are just like a 24-hour robot working round the clock and everything at home is in their control. So, if the owner of the house happens to see anything undone, he/she will ask for a change of maid. Being a maid is not easy too.
OH.
I OWN A MAID AT HOME. I TREAT HER AS A SLAVE. WOAH.
Nononooo maids are not treated as slaves in Singapore(in general). Why? I see maids going out during the PublicHolidays and/or weekends dating their boyfriends(usually bangalas)~ They are just like part of the family(helpers, but they still have their own life), NOT slaves.
What more. Sometimes the life of a maid, is even much more better than us. They can afford to get branded stuff and eat good food ~~ Do we get often get them?
Oh yes. I agree with Geena. The law have already protected much of the maids' interests. The whole thing is just something that got to do with the attitudes shown.
Hi all! How about the rights of a maid? They are after all human beings who need sufficient rest and recreation. Maids need to look after young children, take care of the elderly, etc. The mental and emotional stress can be tremendous! Can someone do some research on what employment rights maids have? In Singapore, employers only need to give 1 day off a month to their maids. Is this enough? See this website below for a report from the Human Rights Watch:
http://hrw.org/reports/2005/singapore1205/1.htm#_Toc121133630
Though in Singapore, employers only need to give their maids off once per month, it is not commonly seen.
I would say majority of the employers still DO give their maids off every week.
I understand that maids too are human but what do we say about maids who go against their employers and abused the employer's child in return for anger?
I do respect the fact that there are employers who treats maids like slaves and abusing their authority.
All I can say is that as human beings, we should reserve respect for one another.
No, I don’t think maids are treated as slaves in Singapore and I hope it will never happen.
As I can see, they do have their own time with their friends in the weekends.
Treating them as a slave or helper depends on the employer’s mentality.
By right, there is law to protect them if they were treated badly by their employers but there is always by left when we do not know what happens behind closed doors where law doesn’t work.
Though I never have maid helping my family throughout my life, they are still human and they still have human rights. For those who abuse their maids, is the same that they abused another person and deserve to be punished.
They work for a good reason, to help and in the same time to support their family with the money they earn.
What makes us think that maids are being treated as slaves in Singapore?It is true that has been several reports of people abusing their maids but how many maids are there in Singapore?.It would be a generalistion if we conclude that maids are treated like slaves just because it has been reported in the news several times.
I agree with what most people from the class said,most of the maids in Singapore are treated properly and some even have the time to go shopping.
Hi class, I've copied some excerpts from interviews with maids here in Singapore. What do you think?
"I was not allowed to go outside. I never went outside, not even to dump the garbage. I was always inside, I didn’t even go to the market. I felt like I was in jail. It was truly imprisonment. I was not allowed to turn the radio on either…. I could only see the outside world when I hung clothes to dry."
— Sri Mulyani (not her real name), Indonesian domestic worker, age thirty, Singapore, February 19, 2005
"I was afraid if I ran away, I would be caught by the police. Madam often got angry with me, complained to the agency, and the agency also got angry with me. The agent asked, “What do you want?” I said, “I want to die, ma’am, because the people here are cruel, everything I do is wrong, I’m always called idiot and stupid.”
[It got so bad,] I really didn’t know what to do, so I drank poison for rats and cockroaches. I lost consciousness, and Madam brought me to the hospital….
The police told me it was wrong to try suicide. When the incident happened, I had been working exactly seven months. I had earned S$90 [U.S.$53]."
—Muriyani Suharti (not her real name), domestic worker, age twenty-two, Singapore, March 8, 2005
Maybe the question isn't about whether maids are treated as slaves but whether they are treated equally/ fairly.
Please see another excerpt from the Human Rights Watch report:
"Singapore needs to do more to address the underlying inequities and lack of protection that result in widespread abuse. Singapore’s Employment Act and Workmen’s Compensation Act should be amended to include domestic workers. These laws guarantee weekly rest days, limitations on work hours, and regular payment of wages and overtime. They also regulate salary deductions for debt payments and address compensation for workplace injuries. Singapore also should institute stronger mechanisms for inspecting workplaces and employment agencies. The accreditation program, though a positive step, needs improved protections for domestic workers’ rights, including greater transparency about recruitment and placement charges, and detailed provisions on working conditions such as weekly rest days."
Do you think more needs to be done to protect maids in Singapore?
Quoting from the newpaper 12 July 2007 article, "Fewer maids abuser here","the number of employers who were charged in court or given police warnings for maid abuse went down from 157 in 1997 to 89 the next year and dropped further to 32 in 2005." The government has done a lot in the pass few years to help reduce the cases of maid abuses.Of course,it would be better if more can be done but this shows that the government is not ignoring the issue.
Also from the article,"Also last year, a survey of 526 maids by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports' Feedback Unit found that 92 per cent are happy working here."526 people is a good sample size and with 92% being happy working here,it shows that maids are not treated as bad as we thought.
i agree that maids are not slaves. although we paid to have their service, we cannot order them around without limits. we can ask them to do housework like what some mothers do themselves, cooking, washing clothes, cleaning the house, etc, but we cannot flood them with too much work as this will give them stress. note: they are human, not robots
"Do you think maids are treated as slaves in Singapore?
Think about whether the law sufficiently protects their interests."
erm, i think maids now are still treated as maids and not slaves. well, i treat my maid well, i treat her like my own elder sister. sometimes i do really feel like i have become a servant like her. helping her along the way.
if you are talking about the person in the newspaper that actually sends his/her maids to the friends house to help clean up, that is slavery.
"How about the rights of a maid? They are after all human beings who need sufficient rest and recreation. Maids need to look after young children, take care of the elderly, etc. The mental and emotional stress can be tremendous! Can someone do some research on what employment rights maids have? In Singapore, employers only need to give 1 day off a month to their maids. Is this enough?"
from what i know, not all maids are able to do them unless they are trained to do so. example taking care of the elderly, agencies do have certain certified maids to do the proper job.
i dont tink maids are slaves but helpers.As i have a maid at home and we treat her well.She is a good helper to us as my parents need to work and she is the only one who tidy my house. But how do you define slaves?is asking her keep doing all the house work counted as slaves? everyone has a different views thus maid can be slaves or helpers.but to me i tink maids is a helpers
Yes. I think that Singaporean treat their maids as slaves. Nowadays, people tend to violate the human rights and start abusing their maids when they did a minor mistakes. Maids tend to get locked up like a prisoner at home, they cannot go out but to stay at home to do chores.
From my perspective, maids are considered as helpers when we first hire her. As time goes by, good employers will treat their maid as part of their family. Fallacious employers will treat their maids shabbily. To illustrate, they regard their maids as robots, giving them little rest but tons of work to do. Employers will scold and punish them for the slightest mistake they made by deducting their salary etc. Some employers may even threaten their maids and the maids have to suffer in silence.
However, we have to put ourselves in the employers’ shoes too. Since there are cases of maids escaping after stealing money from their owners, I believe some employers are afraid that they may encounter such cases themselves and hence the need to “instill discipline” in their maids, which may come a bit harsh. I believe that what the employers want is a maid that they can trust and to establish a good relationship with her.
Maids are definately helpers rather than slaves.I have a maid whom have an off day once every 2 weeks.Shes a great helper to us as she take care of my grandmother and help to do some laundry as well. we dont give her alot of housework as we know shes not a robot but a human.
However some selfish people tend to hire maid to do all jobs with just a merely paid salary.Some maids will be abused for not doing the jobs well.They are humans too, cant they afford mistake?
To me, Maids are definately a good helper to us.
Maids are human beings, not robots. If you expect them to be slaves in Singapore, then one will have to let them express unsatisfaction. A happy worker is a productive worker. People should be smart enough to realise that. It is your best interest to give those working for them fair and honest wages and welfare since they have traveled far all the way here from their own country. Some of them do not have their own house , owning high amount of renting payment from their landlord. Reminding of singaporean maids , they are usually treated as slaves and some even had been badly abused ,in addition with horrible nightmare memories . Working from 6 am in the morning to 12pm , and that almost 18 hours! Imagine that they worked almost 2 times of singaporean working hours. Moreover they are also fed up with little food daily and had to endure their owner scolding when they do not meet up their owner high expectation. Where is the maid rights??? No wonder recently, there has been news reports of maid taking revenges on their employees. However I think singaporeans should respect maid rights and not treat them like robots.
Well i would say, some maids are treated as slaves but some are not. The reason why maids are treated as slaves, is mainly due to the employer. Usually during this situation when maids are treated as slaves, i strongly believe that the employer is mentally unstable. Maybe drunk or feeling frustrated. Yes i believe Singapore law has sufficiently protects their interests. As currently we did not hear any news about maids being treated as slaves.
Every now and then we always seem to hear of maids being abused or tortured by their employers.But in general i don't think that's always the case.In my opinion i think there is on a handful of employers who go on to abuse their maids.Most of them treat their maids friendly and even give them days off(usually on sundays) just so that they can take a well deserved break from their work.
people with conscience will not treat their maid as slaves. Maids are also human, they also have feelings. some even have their own family in their hometown. Just that they cannot afford to live like how we live, doesn't mean that we can treat them as slaves.
I ever see adults bring their maid to restuarants to eat, the adults let their maid choose what she want to eat. people treat their maids like their family member.
As long as people hiring maids are not pervertic then maids are safe to work here.
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