President Jokowi Wants Indonesian Maids Treated Better — And He Has A Point
When I read statements by politicians, I always like to temper their political correctness with the opinion of a ‘real’ person. So when I heard the news that Indonesia would stop sending live-in maids to Singapore, naturally, I went to the first place that came to mind, HardwareZone forums.
My family used to have a maid who would jokingly refer to herself as an “Executive Maid”, so that ‘domestic manager’ comment really hit home with me.
His (or her) amusing ‘domestic manager’ quip aside, he made an interesting linguistic choice. He put slaves and maids in the same sentence.
Now let’s be clear, maids are certainly not the same as slaves. It would be an insult to people who endure slavery to let such a proposition stand. However this user has a point, the term “maid”, like “slaves”, has derogatory undertones. The fact that the term ‘domestic helper’ exists as a euphemism in society proves it.
Perhaps the problem is that the very word “maid” has an element of subservience, usually to an employer. There is a power imbalance in favour of the employer, and like power in any situation, it is commonly abused. Maids are often verbally abused and made to do work outside of their job scope. As civil activist Mr Jolovan Wham pointed out, “If where you live and work is the same, working hours are not clearly defined, and being socially isolated, domestic workers can’t ask for help.”
This is where Indonesian President Jokowi’s plan comes in. By 2017, he wants outgoing maids to be trained and certified in specific skills and to live away from their workplace. He wants Indonesian maids in Singapore to be seen, treated and respected as professional with regular working hours. And why shouldn’t they be? Many maids in Singapore are the family cook, cleaner, laundry service, babysitter, alarm clock, all-in-one.
I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a ‘Domestic Manager’ to me.
This move is likely going to increase the cost of hiring a maid, but it might not be folly to suggest that they are worth that price.
To the critics who believe that there’s going to be a severe void in domestic help, here’s a list of alternatives to maids that you may not have thought of.
-Take care of the house yourself (time consuming)
-Hire professional local help (expensive)
-Hire a local freelance helper
Contrary to popular belief, Singaporeans are willing to do domestic work to carve out a living. The fact that there are over 500 freelance helpers signed up on our AfterYou FindHelper platform is evidence of that.
Hopefully one day as a society, we’ll look not to only glorify the doctor, the lawyer, the banker and instead, uplift the housewife, the cleaner, the caregiver. Let everyone that does honest work be symbols of service, and not subservience.
Maybe someday “domestic helper” might sound less like a euphemism, and more like the real thing.
If you’d like to try hiring a freelance helper, go to http://afteryou.co to search for helpers within your vicinity.
