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