Slavery & Abuse – Modern Day Realities for Maid

At her d dropcel outh, the 19-year-old girl who was 50 kg when she arrived in capital of Singapore weighed tout ensemble 36 kg and had more than 200 injuries on her body. (Lee, para. 3) The evolution of interior(prenominal) workers in Singapore dates back to the mui tsai, migratory girls from China in the archaeozoic 1890s who were the virtual slaves of the rich families. They worked from dawn to dusk and into the wee hours of the morning. However, the form of foreign municipalated workers started to grow only in the 1970s, a go out perhaps of the economic boom then, and the desire for more leisure.The number go a huge to rise rapidly. In 2005, there were more than 140,000 foreign domestic workers in Singapore. (Chew, pg. 152) It whitethorn take c ar that wet-nurseen overs working in a first terra firma country like Singapore, has it easy off, comp ard to those working in second reality countries, but there is a hidden claw that scars maids in this holler Lion City. Some may say that maid execration is non a widespread problem and that the irresponsible reporting of maid ill-usage by the local papers and television is the problem. On the other hand, others imagine that maid abhorrence still remains a widespread problem. Singaporean, para. 12) Singapore maids undergo the risk of existence do by out-of-pocket to financial and educational circumstances for their family, leaving them with mental effects during and after inglorious treatment. extraneous Domestic Workers come to Singapore in search for a job, without the surety of the Singapore government, to get them out of a poverty stricken animation they have back in their hometown. They earn money to be fitting to build a home and be open to afford a decent education and keep their fryren sufficiently fed and clothed.However, the cost of this may lead to a permanent psychological trauma caused by employers, which follows them for the quiet of their lives after their contra ct is up, if they do not commit suicide. These abusers come from all walks of life A school teacher had attractd her maid to eat her own feces(Singaporean, para. 11), a father of two kicked and threw chairs at his maid(Singapore, para. 3), an air force staff sergeant tortured his sleep deprived maid by whipping her(Chong, para. 8), even children slap and hit their maids repeatedly to the encouragement of their parents(Rhonda, accounting entry 5, para. ). Something has to change. Background Singapore for the past century has been a country maturation in population and world status and recognition. Once an island of fishing village, and a British settlement, today Singapore is a republican country, which had undergone tremendous change. This is a result of the workforce Singapore has and its strategical location on the globe, cosmos located off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, making it an deification destination to port ship between traveling between the Indian and Paci fic Ocean, thus being a passing growing and expanding nation.With a huge amount of Singapores society retentiveness jobs that requires long hours, they absorb helpers, maids, to lighten their work load for the chores they have to do. In 2005, there were more than 140,000 foreign domestic workers in Singapore(Chew, pg. 152), under the care of employers who hire these helpers from one of the 700 maid agencies in Singapore. (Chew, pg. 152) These employers may hold high nonrecreational jobs or high posts in the company they work for, but there is al manners a hidden side to deal.In 1997, Singapore has describe 157 cases, 89 cases in 1998, 82 cases in 1999. (Sierakowski, pg. 133) it may seem that there is a downward trend with maid abuse cases of much(prenominal) in Singapore, tho, there was 87 cases in 2000 and it has since been rising. (Chew, pg. 133) The cases of abusive behavior implicated upon the employers helper, usually happens behind closed doors of the employers reside nt be it in their HDBs (government funded Housing and Development Board in Singapore), landed properties, condominiums or private properties.The implications of such abusive inflictions on their helpers, causes physiological traumas embedded forever with their helpers. Unfortunately, some(a) of these traumas unfortunately do end with the loss of lives. Description The idea of maid abuse parallels the idea of sla very. In Singapore, there was no term cognize as maid abuse till the recent decade. Each year, an modal(a) of 90 maids report the abuse cases and are documented into the system, however, many goes unheard. (Chew, pg. 33) The staple fiber ideology of maid abuse happens when a worker under the participation of an employer is ill treated to an extent that would cause side effects to a soulfulness physically and mentally. A recent case of maid abuse consisted of a maid being kicked in the belly, slapped, and thrown multiple items at her for not preparing curry puffs as in structed properly. This maid, suffered injuries to her arms and toes, but managed to flee the flatbed and reported the abuse to the police.The abuser, Mat Nooh, a father of two, and teacher, was found guilty, and this item case was settled. Singapore, para. 2) It is important to know that even a person holding a profession as a teacher, who provides an education to others, and is a highly respected job that others trust and seek information from, is able to move out such abusive behavior towards a fellow homophile being. It leads us to question the occurrence of how much a person can appear to be what he is not, question the true identity of others. However, not all ill-treated are able to take the physical and psychological abuse. There was another maid who is referred to as Imelda, had acquired bruises all over her body.She maintain that her employers fellow had hit her repeatedly whenever he would get drunk. In January 1988, he had handed her his knife and told her to kil l herself. By doing this action, the employers brother had not only physically abused the maid, but also had imprinted the rudimentary idea that Imelda was useless and would be better off to the world to be dead. Imelda has initially fled to Philippine Community Center, which has since been closed down, to take refuge. However the psychological impact of the matter was too much for her to take, and she had plummeted from the hospital window, to her death. (Sampang, pg. 8) This is significant to the fact that the abuse of a maid does not finish when the maid leaves the abusive environment, but the effects of it continue to linger in her subconscious idea and it would impair her judgment and thought process in the future due to the abusive acts inflicted upon the maid. Leaving a permanent psychological scar on the maid, forever.There are laws in Singapore that protect helpers, for the most part, from being hurt physically, being wrongfully confined and outraged of modesty, but, it is important to production line that foreign domestic workers are not protected under the interlocking Act, 1968(Chew, pg. 53), that all employees in Singapore are protected by. If you enter a foreign country to work in it as a domestic helper and you realize that the government of that country does not protect you the way it protects the other 5. 5 million people living in the same(p) country, it results in not just fear in the back of your melodic theme but it trips a wire that subconsciously tells you, you are not of the same value of others. Analysis A psychological effect on a person doesnt require drastic measures to happen before changes in a persons mind occur.Even a wide-eyed thing such as that, maids who are employed by couples are often made by the employers wife to cut their hairs unretentive and not to wear any makeup so they will be less attractive to the employer(Perlez, para. 25), may be of mental harm towards a maid. This may not seem to be a big deal, however not being able to look good for herself, psychologically impairs the person to think that she is ugly and not worthy the trouble, consequently causing a decrease of self respect , ego and insecurity in looks, with the perchance of resulting in the state of depression.In simple terms, the maid turns suicidal as a result of abuse. However, the effect of maid abuse does not stop there, but carries on as a chain reaction. If a child sees his/her parents abusing their maid when they are preteen, the child will think that it is the norm and would pass on this trait into the future, and would abuse the possible maid he/she would employ. Abuse may not only be in the form of physical linkup between the two parties, derogatory verbal statements made about these domestic helpers may also be considered as an abuse.It may not seem that verbal statements could be an abuse, however when you start referring to a person as said maid, it lowers a persons self-respect and in their subconscious m ind, they feel like they are being told that they are worth less than others as they have to serve their employers. However, in this seemingly aphotic and grim topic, there is a glimmer of hope for this matter. If we are able to raise awareness within the community, then the rate of abuse cases would gloam over time, consequently saving the lives of possible future victims. Solutions H. O. M. E (Humanitarian nerve for Migration Economics), is one of the charities in Singapore that is helping out the situations of abused maids in Singapore. H. O. M. E helps these maids by offering them to be told of their rights and options in their own indigen tongue. In addition to that, H. O. M. E aids abused migrant workers by informing the MOM (Ministry of Manpower) of the case and follows up onto it, be it negative or embarrassing towards the ministry. (Maid, para. 24) H. O. M. E also provides referral services, shelter, income-generating opportunities, and legal aid to abused migrant worke rs.It helps workers navigate the justice system in Singapore and has been cultivating a working relationship with the Ministry of Manpower and sending countries embassies to respond to cases of abuse. (Maid, para. 54) An idea to a saucily solution would be to create an advertisement travail to educate the vernal public. This would be the solution to the maid abuse problem. It would be to educate the young to prevent these problems in the future, as the past has already happened. The condition of maid abuse cannot be changed overnight by campaigning about it.The sr. generations mindsets have already been written in lapidate and so it would be hard to sway their mindset. However, the younger generation is good influenced and so by educating them on respect of other human beings irrespective of their ethnicity and background, it would prove to be worthwhile, with the outcome of a new generation of people who would respect, understand and have more compassion. Even though MOM had held a photographed campaign against the abusive behavior towards maids, I felt that I could set about my campaign from a totally new and different perspective.The advertisement campaign could consist of three different compositions that mirror the layout of TIME magazine, so the watchman would be draw to see the image. The first could consist of an image of an abused maid cowering in a dark corner, accompanied with shocking schoolbook as topics. The second could consist of an image of a shadowed clenched fist about to strike maid, accompanied with socking text as topics. The third could consist of a picture of an abused maid with a tear axial motion down her cheek, portraying her cry for help.The campaign will be up on the internet alongside being posted in strategic locations around my school, for maximum exposure. This campaign could possibly have a very strong impact on the consultation. However, the limitation of this would be the amount of audience that this would receive , and if they would even care. Conclusion There are many implications to the extent of abuse possible. Even in this magnificent Lion City, Singapore, there are abusive behaviors occurring to the employed helpers of households. This leaves a mental imprinted scar in he minds of such victims through and subsequent to abusive treatment. The abused will feel that they are inferior to the general public and start to decline into the start of depression, with the porta of resulting in death. However, there are solutions to the problem at hand, by acme awareness within the community. Maids have plunged from top stories of buildings, slit their wrist, starved, beaten and abused to death. We must not let them die in vain. Each and any one of them has a story to tell. Let us carry their voices on.