The Good Fight

Not paid for years. Locked in your home for months. Forced to have sex with your employer. These are the issues millions of Foreign Domestic Workers face in Asia, including many right here in Singapore.

- Melinda Murphy

Maria’s* nightmare started with her employer forcing her to have sex whenever he felt like it. He’d come into her room, lock the door and rape her. Then, another family member started doing the same thing. Then another. Before long, Maria was trapped in a life of horrifying sexual abuse. Imagine how hard it’d be to leave as a Foreign Domestic Worker (FDW) in Singapore when your employer holds your work visa and all your money.

Eventually, Maria did escape to a local NGO called Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME). Her employer was found guilty on criminal charges and she was paid $7,000, mostly for outstanding salaries, but the damages did nothing to address her suffering. Worse yet, she had to return to the Philippines as nobody here would hire her – yet another indignity.

Sadly, this type of story is not uncommon, though the circumstances are always different. Recently, the death of an Indonesian maid in Penang grabbed headlines; she reportedly died due to abuse by her employers who also withheld her salary for three years.

Most cases of mistreatment involve chronically underpaying women – even completely withholding pay – essentially locking workers into bondage. Other typical problems include work injuries, poor living conditions, and physical, verbal and psychological abuse.