Maid. Helper. Caregiver. Foreign Domestic Worker.

Jermarlyn, a lived-in foreign domestic worker in Singapore, feels fortunate to have a good employer. Yet, after more than 10 years of working, she still struggles to make enough to see her four children through school. The telling of Lyn’s story exposes the problem of modern-day colonisation and the overwhelmingly lack of protection for this group of employees. Foreign domestic workers in Singapore are not protected by a minimum wage or the employment act. NGOs in Singapore have extensively campaigned and researched in order to reveal the conditions of these workers and improve their welfare, but initiations from the government have been slow and not forthcoming.

As Singapore becomes increasingly dependent on live-in maids, the dynamics of having round-the-clock domestic support begin to create new tensions and relations within private spaces. Rigorous legislation becomes urgent as this dependency sits at the crossroads of an individual’s private domestic priorities against protection for foreign domestic workers. As a wealthy first world country, Singapore is in the position to re-examine its policies toward foreign domestic labour, yet local governments stand idly by.