Singapore displays foreign maids in windows

Singapore displays foreign maids in windows

The latest gimmick in Singapore's maid trade is displaying domestic helpers in agency shop windows, prompting a women's activist group to describe the practice on Saturday as "appalling."

In the face of stiff competition, some agencies have their maids sitting in front of windows, often dressed in identical uniforms.

Mostly shy and some as young as 19, they sit without moving or talking as strangers peer at them.

"It presents a good opportunity for potential employers who can just walk in and interview them in person," an agency spokesman told the newspaper Today. It's "better than looking at a photo."

Some observers compared the scene to prostitutes who appear in window displays in the red-light districts of Amsterdam or Russia.

Others expressed concern about displaying maids as commodities.

Margaret Thomas, vice president of the Association of Women for Action and Research, called the practice "appalling."

"The domestic workers are not accorded even basic human dignity," she was quoted as saying.

Of the more than 140,000 foreign maids here, Filipinos number more than 100,000 and the rest are mainly from Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. -- DPA