Veteran labour leader Halimah Yacob recently called for the legislation of weekly days off for maids working in Singapore. This has sparked off an intense debate amongst Singaporeans. In your opinion, should the giving of weekly days off be legislated in Singapore?
Post your 300 word response on your blog.
I feel that giving of weekly days off for maids working in Singapore should be legalized. This is because the maids have worked very hard for us. Sometimes, when a maid works in the family for maybe 3-5 years long, they will be considered as a family member. Being a maid is like working. If a employee can take leave why cant a maid do so too?
Most of the time, people need to have breaks to relief their stress. If u ask someone to work for 24/7 they will go crazy. It goes the same for the maid. If they store too much stress in their body, the will 'explode' one day. There have been quite a few cases of maids treating children and elderly badly. One of the reasons for these acts are because they are stressful. When the maids are not given a day off to release their stress, they have no choice but to release it on to the employer's family members.
To prevent these acts, the government should legalize the weekly days off for maids. Many families may think that this is a bad idea as the maids may go out and make bad friends. However this is not true as maids can differentiate what is right from wrong. Even a child can do that why not a maid. Maids have a brain of their own. We should let them decide their own path to walk instead of building one for them without their consent.
In conclusion, i feel that the day off is for them to socialize with other maids as they are in a foreign country with no friends and relatives in here. With the day off, the maids can meet up with one another and share their working experience so as not to make the same mistake as their fellow compatriot. Without them, many families cannot cope with their housework as they need ti juggle between work and housework.
