FOREIGN MAIDS IN SINGAPORE : NEW FORMS OF AN OLD TRADITION

Abstract

The phenomenon of the foreign maids in Singapore is not novel since there was already a tradition of hiring maids in the 1930s. This study has sought to examine this new form of tradition within the framework of social change. My findings has highlighted the interplay of market mechanisms and technology which has transformed the recruitment from one of traditional exchange to a pure market exchange• This process is also governed by external control like the economic environment which the economic exchange is situated within. I also examine the maid-employer relationship within the context of the modern work relationship today. The society is marked by a high degree of formalization in the economic sector and the institutionalization of behavioral patterns conducive to the formation of a impersonal commodity market. It is found that factors like the work environment, the work content, the contractual aspect and their status differential are important in influencing their relationship dynamics. I have also brought up the unique feature of domestic service in the midst of my discussion of the maid-employer relationship. My findings reveal that the presence of the foreign maids is a new form of domestic maids existing within a different social and economic context from the traditional amahs. As such, certain ways of conducting exchange relationship may no longer be effective in a modern, industrial society. However the maid-employer relationship has not diffeic^from that of the traditional amahs