Spying on the maid....

Categories: Wormie Says

It was reported that more and more maid employers are installing camera to monitor their maids in Singapore. [The Sunday Times, October 30 2005]. Employers interviewed felt that this is a form of safety measure as they can monitor to see if their had been any wrongdoing on the part of the maid when the employer is not at home. Apparently one of the maids was caught handling a child roughly and another was found to be wearing the the employers wife clothings. A social worker with the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics, which promotes welfare of foreign workers, said such measure is wrong because it is telling the maid that the employer do not trust them.

It is very sad if the employer have to resort to such tactics to keep an eye on the maid. I can understand the need to keep the family safe, and like it or not, a maid is an 'outsider'. Therefore fear of abuse by the maid is 'real' and this is amply highlighted by the recent murder of the employer by maids. However here lies the irony. If you do not trust your maid, why not change a maid or forgo a maid all together? If you do not trust a person will you still invite him into the house? There are currently alternative arrangements which can be used to take care of the child. As for housework, there is always a part-time cleaner. Maybe a maid is just a luxury?

Even if due to circumstances beyond control and the maid is a must, if you are to install the security camera, is it right to install it without telling the maid? The maid has a right to her privacy when at 'home' although 'home' here is just a shelter in most cases. Imagine you have a tenant whom you think is up to no good, but you need make some side income. You install a security camera and spy on him. Is this right? Is his privacy being invaded? After all his 'home' is the space you rented to him. Similar situations but I am sure evoking different reactions. Maid, after all is hired by you and you are paying her, whereas a tenant is a fellow human being who is paying you. Therefore the former is 'justified' and the later not.

Granted security camera is here to stay and maids will be monitored. But if you really wants to install such a camera, I think it is only right for the maid to be informed. Because if you really wants to make sure that they 'behave', then the mere knowledge that her every steps is monitored is enough to make anyone toe the line.

I wonder what those employers who install the spy camera will say if their own bosses install similar cameras in the work place. Will they feel that the boss has every right to monitor them while they work or will they feel betrayed and let down because the boss do not trust them?

Maybe a good thing that may come out of this spy camera issue is the fact that maybe maids who had been abuse can use it to prove such abuses. Double edged sword.

And finally, few months ago when the police use stealth instead of speed camera with a warning signboard, to book speeding car, what happened? There was a great uproar with the police being called 'sneaky'. People felt that it is not fair for the police to book them without any warning. Sigh! Maybe they should retake their highway code, because somewhere in there is a signboard with a red circumference and big number in the centre. This signboard, to recapitulate, gives you the maximum speed limit! And what was the police response to the uproar? The start to publicise where they are going to monitor and book speed offenders on the police website! I just wonder whether maids here have such recourse?