S'pore bans window displays of maids

S'pore bans window displays of maids

SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Manpower has ordered maid employment
agencies to stop displaying their foreign workers behind
storefront windows for prospective employers, saying it gives
Singapore a bad reputation.

Putting the workers on display as well as displaying their
biographical data and photos behind glass panels "are both
considered unacceptable practices," according to a circular
distributed to maid agencies last month and released to the media
on Tuesday.

The ministry said it made it seem that the women were being
displayed "much like other commodities."

"Some have even drawn similarities between such display to
that of ... the vice trade," the statement said. "This has
created international disrepute for Singapore, as we are
perceived not to have accorded the foreign domestic workers basic
human dignity."

Many agencies had forced their maids to sit in front of large
windows, in some cases all day, so that prospective employers
could look at them before entering the agency office.

Agencies who continue to put their employees on display will
have their business licenses revoked, it said. -- AP