Filipinos helpers in Hong Kong are at the risk of being maltreated

Introduction Castillo Clariza Avenales who was in her age of 33, had her right thumb being chopped by her male employer after she reported his sexual misconduct to his wife last year. She was not the first one experienced such an unfortunate incident. Hong Kong, which comes to the top rank in world domestic labor employment, has long been seen as somewhere nearby to earn good salaries for better livings by the Filipinos. However, these people might place themselves under the danger of being abused in this workplace. In a 2001 survey conducted by the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor which is a shadow committee of the United Nations, 1000 maids out of 2500 claimed they were physically abused while 175 of them said they were either harassed or raped. (Stafford, 2001, p. 5) This number was underestimated, according to the Hong Kong Overseas Maid-Employer Association dean, since it was not precise and scientific enough as the police figures which the authorities never revealed. It is actually not uncommon to see Filipinos getting involved in discrimination, unfair treatments, and even violence.

Discrimination, unfair treatments, abuses and violence Gatmaytan (1997) stated that “Filipinas are imported by other countries for jobs their own citizens will not perform and for wages domestic citizens would not accept,” (p. 247) which is very true. In Hong Kong, Filipinos are receiving salaries that two times or more lower than the average ones of the locals. What they are doing is generally considered low-skilled, nonessential and cheap. They eventually become so-called legitimate targets of violence since they are dehumanized. Such kind of discriminative values are instilled in many mindsets of the Hong Kong people, therefore driving many to treat their helpers badly. For example, sacking helpers for no reason, paying them a salary that is lower than the minimum requirement, not giving them mandatory weekly dayoff and force them to serve more than one family. (p. 240) Worse cases are abuses in physical, sexual and verbal terms, which are not uncommon in any sense. According to the HKHRM report, out of 2500 interviewed Filipino domestic helpers in Hong Kong, more than 25% had experienced corporal punishment and insulting scolds, including a significant incidence of sexual abuses. (Stafford, 2001, p. 73) These are not just seen among the ordinary people, as well happening all around Hong Kong even at the affluent and renowned families, including the superstar, Jacky Cheung’s, and his wife, May Lo’s, which sacked 21 Filipino helpers in 3 years without giving reasonable explanations. Another case is Hsiao Lin, Young-Ko, a superrich woman, who was accused of beating up her helpers for twice. These upper class representatives played bad role models of unjust conducts and in-house violence towards those unarmed Filipino maids.

Reasons contributing to this problem We have to come to think about why and how is such a problem generated in Hong Kong. It is expected that Filipino helpers are especially vulnerable in the private sphere of homes which they are staying at. (Lagoza-Maza, 1995, p. 64) No one is continually keeping an eye on a family. Filipinos are rather exposed in a powerless position where no one can help them in times of difficulties. They may report the incidents to the consulate or police, but neither of them are the best agencies to contact. Bad employers see their helpers as their assets who are absolutely under their control; even worse some of them vent their unhappiness at office on maids who have made minor mistakes. Especially when considering these foreign helpers are merely women without much ability to resist physical attacks, these employers are even more encouraged to beat up their maids.

There are no specific laws protecting incoming household labor where maids are beyond the knowledge of entities that could provide assistance or protection. (p. 64) The current Domestic Violence Ordinance (Cap 189) does not include domestic helpers as a protected party. Even the Filipino maids are abused by their employers either mentally, physically or verbally, they will still keep their mouths shut due to the fear of losing their jobs. They have usually paid a great sum of money to the agencies and they cannot bear the risk of being sent home if they are not able to find a placement within two weeks after the contract breaks. Most of the abused Filipinos prefer to report their masters after the end of contract that it may prevent them from getting out of violence at the right time. The absence of human rights commissions in Hong Kong further leaves the problem unmonitored.

To add with, the Philippine government does not show enthusiasm in protecting its female citizens. It is ironic that Filipino helpers were subject to discrimination and violence partly because the government exports its labor overseas. According to Gatmaytan (1997), the government created the inferior and weak image of the Filipinas and it becomes unconvincing to ask for humane treatment of its women, which is a nonsensical message like “Please do not maltreat our chattel.” (p. 248) Moreover, the Philippines never stop facing the problem of poverty and economic constraints that the officials sometimes referred to a balancing of interests between the state and its workers. It implicated the meaning that the GDP has to be advanced at the expense of Filipinas. Filipinas must suffer violence at the hands of their employers not until the opportunities in their homeland improved.

Consequences Maltreatments of Filipino maids on one hand damaged the core values of Hong Kong as a whole. Hong Kong as an international city advocates values like ethnic and gender equality and humanity, but these were not realized in the cases of discrimination against Filipino workers which are often seen as the statistics tells. (Samuels, 1999, p. 707)

On the other hand, one cannot deny maltreatments are one of the majoring factors leading to the counter-revenges taken by the Filipino maids. During 2004 April to 2008 March, there were hundreds of crimes committed by the Filipino helpers which quite an amount of them were child abuses. Usually they had vindictive feelings about their employers who were often harsh to them and they took revenge on them by treating their precious children badly. One notorious case is that a Filipino maid broke a baby’s arms because she was always scolded by the babies’ parents. Another case is that a maid made her employer a cup of tea with her menses inside. Even worse, some under great pressure may fall into depression and become invisible worries. In June 2009, a Filipino helper who suffered from schizophrenia killed her female employer with a kitchen chopper. She expressed her grievances about how she was pressurized by her employer to her friends before the murder. These problems prevent us from having a harmonious society.

Conclusion Despite of discrimination and unfair treatments mentioned above, Hong Kong is not an evil place to work at as long as one is fortunate enough to find a good employer. Instead of confrontation, it is better for both parties to develop a long-term trustful relationship following related laws and regulations in order to collaboratively build a comfortable environment. It is the best way to achieve a win-win situation in families and to reduce the number of domestic violence between the Filipinos and employers. (1197 words)
References

Journals
Gatmaytan D. (1997). Death and the maid: work, violence, and the Filipina in the international labor market. Harvard Women’s Law Journal, 20, 229-261.

Largoza-Maza L. (1995). The Medium Term Philippine Development Plan Toward the Year 2000: Filipino Women’s Issues and Perspectives. Women’s Right, Human Rights: International Feminist Perspectives, 34, 62-64

Samuels H. (1999). Hong Kong on Women, Asian Values and the Law. Human Rights Quarterly, 21.3, 707-734.

Official Documents
Stafford N. (2001). Shadow Report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Regarding the Report of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (RTF). Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor. Retrieved 18 October 2010 at http://www.hkhrm.org.hk/english/reports/docs/2001CERDfinal.rtf

Domestic and Cohabitation Relationships Violence Ordinance, 1-7. Retrieved 17 October 2010 at http://www.legislation.gov.hk/blis_pdf.nsf/6799165D2FEE3FA94825755E0033E532/2CD1B62629047F40482575EE004AF537/$FILE/CAP_189_e_b5.pdf

News pieces
FDH community: silence to abuses due to fear losing their jobs (2009, June 12). Retrieved from http://news.sina.com.hk/news/705/3/1/1164956/1.html

Maid of mental disorder killed female master (2009, June 12). Retrieved from http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/news.xinhuanet.com/gangao/2009-06/12/content_11529581.htm

7% maids claimed abused (2001, February 15). Retrieved from http://backissues-news01.tripod.com/hongkong/h20010212.htm

Maids urge setting up international labor laws. (2009, December 14). Retrieved from http://www.epochtimes.com/b5/9/12/14/n2753610.htm