Literature Review : Foreign Maid
Literature review: To explore the seriousness of maid abuse, the problems faced by domestic workers, as well as the effectiveness of governmental policies
Introduction
The problem of maid abuse has been around for a long time, and is no longer new to us. There have been several cases of extreme maid abuse shown in the news through the years. The debate has been further sparked up by the case of Ng Hua Chye, a 47-year-old male tour guide, who was sentenced to more than 18 years ' jail and 12 strokes of the cane for manslaughter after his Indonesian maid died following nine months of beatings which left more than 200 injuries. However, these are cases are only a few out of the many that have yet to be uncovered. Are there better ways to improve the working standards of maids? This review aims to look into this problem through the comparison and analysis of several sources that we have managed to get our hands on. This review aims to identify the problems faced by foreign domestic workers in Singapore, whether maid abuse is indeed widespread, and finally what are the possible measures that can be taken to curb these problems effectively.
Is maid abuse a widespread problem in Singapore? Cases of maid abuse are hard to track. ‘Given their isolation in private homes, it is difficult to ascertain the exact proportion of migrant domestic workers who face abuse.’ (Human Rights Watch) However, an independent poll by SIngapore Press Holdings in Dec 2003, revealed that ‘over 80% of FDWs were happy to work in Singapore.’ (Getforme) This leaves us with a question: Are the statistics given by the government accurate in evaluating the problem of maid abuse? It can be further argued that the results of the polls are not representative of the whole foreign domestic workers population at large. Moreover, most foreign domestic workers who are abused would not be outside answering interviews by the government. Thus, the results of the polls are not accurate in
Introduction
The problem of maid abuse has been around for a long time, and is no longer new to us. There have been several cases of extreme maid abuse shown in the news through the years. The debate has been further sparked up by the case of Ng Hua Chye, a 47-year-old male tour guide, who was sentenced to more than 18 years ' jail and 12 strokes of the cane for manslaughter after his Indonesian maid died following nine months of beatings which left more than 200 injuries. However, these are cases are only a few out of the many that have yet to be uncovered. Are there better ways to improve the working standards of maids? This review aims to look into this problem through the comparison and analysis of several sources that we have managed to get our hands on. This review aims to identify the problems faced by foreign domestic workers in Singapore, whether maid abuse is indeed widespread, and finally what are the possible measures that can be taken to curb these problems effectively.
Is maid abuse a widespread problem in Singapore? Cases of maid abuse are hard to track. ‘Given their isolation in private homes, it is difficult to ascertain the exact proportion of migrant domestic workers who face abuse.’ (Human Rights Watch) However, an independent poll by SIngapore Press Holdings in Dec 2003, revealed that ‘over 80% of FDWs were happy to work in Singapore.’ (Getforme) This leaves us with a question: Are the statistics given by the government accurate in evaluating the problem of maid abuse? It can be further argued that the results of the polls are not representative of the whole foreign domestic workers population at large. Moreover, most foreign domestic workers who are abused would not be outside answering interviews by the government. Thus, the results of the polls are not accurate in
References: 1. http://www.thinkcentre.org/article.cfm?ArticleID=2721 2. http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/12/07/singap12125.htm 3.http://www.getformesingapore.com/previous2005/061205_manpowerministryrespondstohrwsreportonmaidsinsingapore.htm 4. http://www.littlespeck.com/informed/2002/CInformed-020728.htm 5. http://www.singapore-window.org/sw03/030727af.htm 6. http://hrw.org/reports/2005/singapore1205/singapore1205web.pdf