For domestic helpers, landing a job is often a one-way street. Employers can pick the maid they want to hire at a recruitment agency, but helpers rarely have the luxury of choosing their boss. On top of that, maids are charged placement and processing fees by the agency.
“These women often end up in debt bondage and forced labor due to precarious recruitment practices,” says Laurence Fauchon, a French national based in Hong Kong. Fauchon is the co-founder of HelperChoice, the website where employers and maids meet and match at no charge to the helper.
The site is also available as an app and is available in seven locations — HK, Macau, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait — where there just happen to be a big population of overseas Filipino workers.
HelperChoice was named runner-up in Pitch With Purpose, a competition for women entrepreneurs with social-themed businesses held in Houston, Texas, this month.
“We’re delighted to be runner-up and to raise awareness of the widespread exploitation of millions of migrant domestic workers. Migrant domestic workers enable women entrepreneurs, like myself, to set up successful businesses,” says Fauchon. “We should be grateful for their care for our homes, but instead these women often end up in debt bondage and forced labor due to precarious recruitment practices.”
Coconuts Hong Kong has been working with HelperChoice to raise awareness about the plight of domestic helpers in the city. Recently, we ran a “Be a Journalist” contest where domestic helpers were asked to submit their stories in the form of an article, essay, poem, or song. Check out the winning entries here.
Fauchon says, “It’s an important step forward for the migrant domestic worker industry to raise awareness globally. Forced domestic labour doesn’t only exist in Asia and the Middle East, it is a global issue. Modern domestic slavery should have no place in the 21st century. It’s time we unite and stop this phenomenon once and for all.”
Words: Coconuts Manila
Got a tip? Send it to us at hongkong@coconuts.co
