Alcohol baths, reused masks, and lonely Sundays: Hong Kong domestic helpers feel ‘singled out’ amid coronavirus outbreak
- Advocates believe as many as half of the city’s domestic workers stayed at home on Sunday, many against their wishes
- Some who did venture out described being forced to douse themselves with alcohol and hand-wash their clothes after returning
Urged to spend their only day off at their employers’ homes, with some facing termination if they refused, Hong Kong’s foreign domestic workers and rights advocates say the group is being singled out with“unfair and discriminatory” measures from the government and employers alike amid the coronavirus outbreak.
An appeal from the city’s Labour Department last week asking foreign domestic workers “to stay home” on Sundays – the weekly rest day for most – triggered strong backlash among leaders of civil society groups.
“Domestic workers have been singled out, as if we're the ones potentially carrying the coronavirus,” said Eni Lestari, an activist and domestic worker from Indonesia said on Wednesday.
“We are the people who make sure everyone eats healthy and stays healthy,” Lestari, chairwoman of the International Migrants Alliance, said.
As the price of face masks and disinfectant surges amid the widespread shortage, one Philippine domestic helper said her employer gave her only one to two masks a week to be reused when going to the market.
The 32-year-old from Cebu, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from her employer, added that she had been looking forward to her rest day last Sunday, only to be forbidden from leaving the house.
It was the only time of the week when she was free to go to church and call her parents, she said, but by then, the Labour Department had issued the appeal for workers to stay home.
“I could see other domestic workers from the window with their masks, and I also wanted to go out,” she said.
The employer showed her the advisory, and threatened to fire her if she left, she said.
“I told her I have my mask, but she said if I insisted, I could take my bag with me and my contract [would] be terminated,” she said.
I told her I have my mask, but she said if I insisted, I could take my bag with me and my contract [would] be terminated
Eman Villanueva, a spokesperson for the Asian Migrants’ Coordinating Body, an NGO that advocates for migrant workers’ rights, estimated that more than half of the city’s domestic workers did not leave their homes this past Sunday.
His estimate came after seeing parts of Central district and Victoria Park – two places popular gathering places for workers to play cards and eat food – deserted.
“Such [an] advisory is actually quite reckless and it is unnecessary,” Villanueva said, referring to the appeal from the Labour Department to stay indoors. “It will be misinterpreted as a direct order.”
Advocates said some workers who had been allowed to go out complained their employers had asked them to hand wash their clothes and rub alcohol all over their bodies after returning home.
As of Wednesday, 21 Hong Kong residents had been infected, with thousands more cases in mainland China and elsewhere around the world.
Two domestic helpers in Hong Kong have been put in quarantine to date, the latest being one who worked for the family of the man who this week became the city’s first coronavirus fatality.
Just over 386,000 people were employed as domestic workers in 2018, according to the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department.
The workers, nearly all women from the Philippines and Indonesia, are legally required to live with the families that employ them and hold duties ranging from preparing meals to childcare.
They earn a statutory minimum salary of HK$4,630 (US$583) a month, yet some have been left to purchase their own masks or told to reuse masks issues by their employers, advocates say.
Villanueva believes that many who stayed, like the 32-year-old helper, were forced to do so by their employers, including with the threat of termination.
Others who decided to stay tended to do so if they had their own rooms, he added.
The Philippine Consulate did not respond to a request for comment, but the Post reported on Tuesday that it had ordered 100,000 masks from suppliers in the Philippines.
The Indonesian Consulate posted a message on its Facebook page saying its citizens could each receive six face masks distributed at several locations each day, but it only had 25,000 available.
Despite their ongoing problems, Villanueva said, most workers were afraid to make formal complaints against their employers.
‘With a formal complaint comes contract termination,” he said.
“Threats of punishment [against employers] are meaningless because of power dynamics within the household.”
