Singapore women abusing maids

tvdog SG

There seemed to be a high incidence of our Singaporean women sadistically abusing their maids.

The abuse range from inhumanly overworking their maids to downright sadistic and often horrific torture. The pictures or the maids wounds are horrific to look at and yet these women come home to this wretched scene everyday to inflict yet more torture with hot irons, bites to sensitive places etc.

Who are these women who abuse their maids? Why do they do it? What makes them act so savagely and sadistically towards another human being? Did the maids deserve such punishments? How does such abuse usually begin? Why is it such a common occurence in Singapore? What kind of society produces such abominable monsters?

I know that on a forum like this, a topic like this would likely incite more flame than any useful discussion. Some people would be falling over themselves to defend Singapore or attack me. But I am Singaporean, and this is more of a soul-searching question than an attempt to quarrel.

skyfoo SG

perhaps they dun like the maids to be prettier than them?

basically, it's a mental problem. these abusers have the mindset that since the maids are being paid by them, the maids are theirs. so they can do anything to them like no one business. it doesnt matter if the maids do their jobs well anot, an abuser will abuse anyone.

oldbreadstinks SG

agree with skyfoo for most of it but i feel that sometimes the employers also come home to vent their fustrations at work on the maids

The Barracuda SG

Its a small minority who are abusive and it gets sensationalise in the news and on TV. Most Singaporeans treat their domestic workers well.

the.raven SG

sux to be the maids of the minority Laughing

paperduck SG

this is a kind of sickness/mental problem. as a city country..most people are very pressure. just put urself in the shoes, after a long day fighting at work (maybe also kana scold by boss) come back home damn fXXKing tired..ur maid still doing the same old mistake which you been teaching her for years. woman usually EQ quite low..they just kicking the bag.

for my stat, we had maid for 10+ year liao. most maid are born to be very very dumb. no matter had much hardwork u train her,she still making same mistake. after last bad EXP , we try to req for secondary sch standard to be our next maid this early year. guess what? she like to do things her own way(not stupid). my mother must still do scolding everyday.

tvdog SG

I've been to some friends and relatives HDB homes where they have a live-in maid.

Most of the maids live in very sad conditions as most do not have a room to sleep in and end up sleeping in the kitchen or something.

Most of the maids we now get in Singapore are not even Filippinos as they are too expensive. Most of the Filippino maids are lively, clever (some highly educated) and most importantly, quite modern.

Most people now have maids from the poorest parts of Sri Lanka, Indonesia and I don't know what else. Most of them probably do not even have running water back home. There's nothing wrong with these people except that they do not belong with a modern, fastidious Singaporean family living in a HDB flat!

Of course most Singaporeans would find these maids unhygienic, underperforming or "stupid" etc simply becos they haven't much clue about the modern world. And most keep their maids working long hours without any contact with their own friends or relatives, so most of the maids just slowly go bonkers as everyday they feel isolated and treated less and less human.

So they start to rebel in small ways like disobedience, breaking things etc and this causes the irate SG women to push even harder and eventually, the abuse starts.

I've lived in HK where a U-grad Filippino maid comes to clean my flat once a week for SGD 40 for 3 hours' work.

In the six years I ived there, there were many incidences of husbands murdering wives and cutting up family members etc but almost no sadistic abuse of maids. Why? HK is an even more high pressure society.

There are of course, the occasional rape or molest - but these are perpetuated by men for very different reasons. What I did not come across was the instances of slow, methodical torture and dehumanisation of live-in maids carrried out by HK women.

There are many speculative reasons but I think the main reason is the Filippinos themselves. Most are well-educated, all are irrepressibly lively and all have a very strong mutual support network. Simply-put, you would think twice to abuse a maid in HK.

I really hope people with maids will remember to be human. I treat my cats better than some people treat their maids.

skyfoo SG

it doesnt mean that we can abuse them just becoz we're stress?

in your case, i shld call it bad luck

Qitai SG

My views on why this happens:

(1) Poor upbringing of some Singaporean employer. Education in Singapore gives morale education almost a total miss and parents not teaching the next generation the right values. Parenting in Singapore has almost become a situation of parents just giving lots of material to child and nothing else. Imparting children with right values, unfortunately, has become secondary for a lot of families.

(2) Maids who are too timid to fight for their own rights, getting abused and yet still quietly suffering not daring to tell anyone about it.

I think perhaps the solution is to improve on the maid education on their rights. Every maid should be made aware that there is someone (embassy? or MOM?) whom they can approach for any trouble. And there should some protection to these maid that their pay will not be deducted even if they choose to highlight the problem. Most common fear for them is probably being send back which is why they rather suffer in silence until it gets out of hand.

ShutterBug SG

This issue about Maid Abuse and or Women Abusing Maids in Singapore, has already become A NORM!

I gave up talking about it long ago....