Filipina domestics in a new light

(First of 2 parts)

"Singaporeans often view Filipino maids as merely servants paid for the domestic services they provide, neglecting to see that they are individuals with their own feelings and their own life outside of work." This observation by four communication students at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore compelled them to do a comprehensive study to bring the Singaporean reader "beyond his misconceptions" and give "a face to the often-overlooked Filipino maids by highlighting them as individuals of value and with emotions."

The four – Chong Chee Yang and Ng Hui Hui, Siew Yong Xin and Yap Hwee Tynn, Joanne – talked to maids at their favorite haunts – Novena Church, the open grass patch behind Orchard MRT station, and Lucky Plaza, and their employers, and even came to the Philippines to look at where their subjects came from.

The four had noted that media featured the domestic helpers when they got into trouble, or abused by their employers. The hanging of Flor Contemplacion, who had been convicted of murdering a fellow Filipino maid and a Singaporean boy, had hogged headlines internationally.

As of 2002, the Straits Times reported that there were 80,000 Filipino domestic maids in Singapore. The exodus of household power had ridden on the back of the Philippines’ overseas employment program in 1974 as a short-term measure to ease its high unemployment and foreign exchange problems. But the problem of unemployment persisted, and as of January 2003, the Philippine Labour Force Survey showed that the unemployment rate stood at an estimated 10.6 percent. Because the female domestic helpers contribute to a large proportion of the country’s national income, the Philippine government honors them as "modern-day heroines" whose remittances to their families back home sustain the economy.

But the four researchers said workers they interviewed do not see themselves as icons to be proud of, "but as responsible members of the family, leaving home on a journey of necessity." They leave home to improve their families’ welfare, and like most Filipinos who believe in the value of education, they want to send their children or younger siblings to school and to break out of the poverty cycle.

But once in Singapore, these women find themselves having to combat homesickness and loneliness, comforted only by the thought their stay in the foreign country is only temporary.

Other problems they face are that they do not have the "normal" rights of employees like other migrant workers in the island state. They have no union to represent or fight for their rights. In fact, the four researchers, quoting earlier researchers Yeoh and Huang (1998), the Singapore state policy "often treats foreign domestic workers as no more than a form of commodified labor to be bought and sold in the open market, and a short-term solution to the crisis of social reproduction."

Wary of the "perceived social and economic ills generated by the presence of these maids in Singapore, the government regulates the number of maids in Singapore through the maid levy, security bond, and twice-yearly mandatory medical examination. All this contributes to the "excluded status of the maid as foreigner," resulting in the failure to recognize maids as individuals with their own rights.

Chong Chee Yang et al note that Singaporeans tend to cast convenient stereotypes on maids as loud and boisterous, creating social nuances of them, and of a lower class that are poor and unable to handle technology. Some consider Lucky Plaza, a place of recreation for Filipino domestics, a weekend enclave associated with negative images of social nuisance and sexual immorality. Furthermore, some "police" their maids so they don’t get mix up with bad company and engage in liaisons with men and undertake illegal activities to earn extra income, by limiting their maids’ days off and controlling the people they come into contact with.

Yet domestic helpers from the Philippines have become a necessity in Singapore, enabling dual income families to work outside the home and leave their children and elderly parents in the care of maids.

The four researchers say Filipino maids form a new "sub-culture" in Singapore – "one with increasing significance because of their contributions to our society. Yet more Singaporeans refuse to accept this new and growing community as part of our social fabric."

The media does recognize this growing community and has from time to time, given them coverage. But the reports about them "are far from adequate, with most dealing with issues ranging from maid abuse to the fear of an over-reliance on foreign domestic help. These women have life beyond their work and the private confines of home, yet the media has not covered these issues adequately. As a result most Singaporeans are left without a complete and accurate picture of this migrant population."

The researchers resolved to look at domestic workers with new insights. For instance, much has been written about maid abuse, "and highlighting this would be overlooking a more important area – breaking stereotypes of local employers as being detached and uncaring, as suggested by the abuse cases. Thus we attempted to show another more positive side to employer-maid relationship than what is commonly known and at the same time explore how this relationship can be a difficult one to develop into a trusting and comfortable friendship." The document gives examples of Singaporean employers treating their maids like part of their family.

They also focused on extraordinary maids in Singapore who put their Sundays to good use by attending self-improvement courses at various institutions. Also, a special group of Filipinas who have set up an organization that contributes to improving the welfare of children and families of those back home.

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