As far as Hong Kong population statistics, the nearly 300,000 foreign domestic workers (284,901 as of November 2010) who live and work here are counted as 1) part of the Hong Kong population and 2) as part of the Hong Kong workforce. They are among the 3,710,400 female residents, and 3,763,000 total workforce in Hong Kong (as of mid-2011).
Thus they represent 7.5% of our whole workforce, about 15% of our female workforce. Do we give them equal protection for their safety as women, compared to the rest of the female workforce? How do we ensure this? The Hong Kong government and conservative groups in Hong Kong proclaim what great benefits we give them ‘already’ – i.e., the minimum salary (which in reality tends to be the maximum salary) – HK$3,740 per month, and ‘so many other things’: food and lodging, a return air ticket and one day off per week.
As the Right of Abode debate heats up in Hong Kong, the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) would like to make its stand clear: we believe the principal issue at hand is not the unequal application of the Right of Abode law itself, but the Hong Kong government’s long-running policy of social exclusion vis-à-vis the city’s migrant workers.
Barring the territory’s 200,000-odd foreign domestic workers (FDWs) from this statute’s coverage is just one of the Hong Kong government’s many discriminatory acts against migrant workers. Others have been the New Conditions of Stay, the ban on Nepali migrants and the exclusion of FDWs from the Statutory Minimum Wage. Such cases of institutionalized social exclusion cast doubt on the Legislative Council’s ability to uphold international standards on human rights and labor migration, and also give it the dubious distinction of being one of the most anti-migrant parliaments in East Asia. This, despite governing a constituency that has been heavily dependent on the underpaid ministrations of FDWs for the last three decades.
