Letters | Domestic workers helped Hong Kong battle coronavirus crisis: their efforts should not go unrewarded
- Longer hours, forgone rest days, and greater exposure to the risk of infection have been all in a day’s work for migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong
- Providing them with ample rest, better work conditions and opportunities to learn a new skill is the least their employers can do in return
Over the past several weeks, we have become used to a new normal: working from home, kids home-schooled, social and active life altered. Self-care for well-being and job security are more important now than ever. However, for some migrant domestic workers, the simplest acts of self-care have become a luxury amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
A survey conducted in March with the help of the group Mission for Migrant Workers revealed that half of the domestic helpers polled had worked more in the past month than at any other time, while 40 per cent said they had not left their residence at all over the period in question. Social-distancing requirements meant many of them were unable to access remittance senders.
Migrant domestic workers are arguably one of society’s most vulnerable groups, particularly so during a pandemic. They have had to take care of the elderly, the children and the sick at home, or families in quarantine. They also ran errands that required them to potentially come into contact with people infected with the virus.
03:53