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