FOREIGN IMMIGRANT MAIDS

MALTREATMENT IN HONG KONG

Individuals and Societies Action Plan

Eugene Park 9.4

Initial Brainstorm
Issue that I have chosen to investigate in this task:
Immigrant Asian maids maltreatment and being refused right of permanent residency in Hong Kong

Possible elements of my issue I could study:

1. Why immigrant Asian maids are being mistreated

2. How immigrant Asian maids are being mistreated

Issue element # 1

Issue element # 2

What do I already know?

I know that Hong Kong scores rather high in terms of
the level of racism and discrimination, which could
explain the maltreatment towards foreign immigrant
maids.

What do I already know?

I already know that foreign domestic workers in Hong
Kong are being mistreated, facing things such as
abuse and being denied the right of permanent
residency.

Other facts that I know:

- Immigrant Asian maids are often the victim of
abuse and being underpaid, as they are seen
vulnerable. They are often seen vulnerable, as
they are the only ones living abroad in their family,
having the obligation to feed their family, and other
reasons.
- Immigrant maids often cannot report the abuse as
they fear that they will lose their job, and the
retaliation from their employers.

Other facts that I know:

- Immigrant Asian maids are often being underpaid
by their employers.
- Many cases of employers mentally and physically
abusing their immigrant maids are evident in Hong
Kong.
- Immigrant Asian maids are being denied the right
of permanent residency in Hong Kong.
- There has been massive protests and activism to
change this issue in the past. For example, when
the abuse of Erwiana Sulistyaningsih became well
known, people protested against this abuse.

What do I need to find out?

The exact reason why this maltreatment exists, and
why immigrant Asian maids are being denied the
right of permanent residency. Possible research and
studies to support the reason, research and studies
such as exact statistics and facts on this issue. (e.g.
percentage of immigrant maids that have been
abused, psychological studies done on racism, etc.)

What search terms should I use?

- Why are Asian maids in Hong Kong being
abused?
- Why are Asian maids in Hong Kong being denied
the right of permanent residency?
- Permanent residency in Hong Kong
- Immigrant asian maids in Hong Kong
- Why are people racist towards immigrant Asian
maids?

What do I need to find out?

Specific examples and cases where an immigrant
Asian maid was being maltreated and denied the
right of permanent residency by the Hong Kong
government. Specific examples could include things
such as details on how maids are being mistreated,
from people making racist comments to being
physically abused.

What search terms should I use?

- How are immigrant maids in Hong Kong being
abused?
- Abused Hong Kong immigrant maids
- Statistics on abuse against immigrant maids in
Hong Kong

Researching
Analysing research information and sources
What information do I
need to find?

What sources could I use to

get this information?

Cases and examples

where a foreign immigrant
maid was mistreated.

http://www.bbc.com/news/worldasia-china-27184521

How useful was this source?

From this source, I have learned about 2 significant
cases where a foreign immigrant maid was abused.

Reason behind why people http://www.scmp.com/news/hong- From this source, I have learned about the
mistreat foreign immigrant
kong/article/1199312/hongxenophobic behaviour in Hong Kong, seen from
maids.
kongs-top-court-rejects-domestic- both citizens and the government.
helpers-appeal-permanent?
page=all
Information and statistics
http://www.bbc.com/news/worldabout the status quo (e.g.
asia-china-27184521
number of immigrant maids
being mistreated)

I have found information and statistics on the

subject, statistics such as amount of maids
experiencing abuse from their employers, number of
maids in Hong Kong, etc.

Reaction and actions taken

by the Hong Kong
government to solve this
issue.

From this source, I have learned about the

ignorance of the Hong Kong government on this
issue, making little to no attempt in solving the
issue. They also fear that providing a better system
for foreign immigrant maids will increase the number
of migrants in Hong Kong.

http://www.scmp.com/news/hongkong/article/1199312/hongkongs-top-court-rejects-domestichelpers-appeal-permanent?
page=all

Methods and Tools to Collect and Record Information

Tools and Methods

Why will I use this?

What did I actually do?

Easybib

I will mainly be using Easybib to record

the bibliography and the sources that I
have obtained my information from.

I have used Easybib to record and

analyse the bibliography that I have
used for the website.

Electronic Document

I will be using an electronic document to

I have written down all useful
note down any information that I find
information that I have researched
useful for my website.
on a separate electronic document.

I will be taking screenshots or saving

images of important pictures (photos,
Screenshot/Saving Images
graphs, diagrams, etc.) that will be used
in my website.

I have saved important and useful

images that I used in my website.
However, I have not really made
use of the screenshot feature.

Note-taking

I will be using the note taking skill to

note down necessary information that I
find from my sources.

I have used the note-taking skill

when listing down bibliography that
was later analysed on Easybib, as
well as taking notes of information
in my electronic document.

Summarising/
Paraphrasing

In order to make note-taking and

extracting information from a source
more effective, I will be summarising
and paraphrasing the information in the
source.

In order to properly collect

important information from a
source, I had to summarise and
paraphrase certain texts in my
electronic document.

Pages of the website

What information do I need to
convey?

What pages could I use to get this How can I link the pages together?
information across to the
audience?

About us - The name of our

organisation, the cause that
we fight for, who we are, etc.

Front Page - The front page

can be used to convey simple
information and media such as
the cause that we fight for, and
the name of our organisation.

Basic overview of the status

quo - The problem that we
currently face, the current
issue in our world, etc.

Sub Page - To convey this

piece of information, a sub
page will be used (1-2 pages).
The sub page will include
information on the current
issue in our world.

Cases/Examples - Cases and

examples of the issue

Sub Page - To inform the

audience about existing cases
and examples of the issue, I
will be using a sub page with
texts, images, and different
types of media.

Taking Action - What our

organisation does to solve the
problem, how to join our
cause, etc.

Sub Page - Informing the

audience on what my
organisation does to solve the
issue and how to join this
cause will be done with a sub
page in the website.

Bibliography/References - The
sources that I have used to
obtain information used in the
website.

Sub Page - Listing down the

bibliography and references
will be done in a sub page.

Action Plan - The action plan

that I have created for the
creation of the website (this
document).

Contact us - This page will

include methods in which
people can contact our
organisation to join the cause.

The main page can include

buttons and links that leads to all
other pages in the website.

These pages can be linked in a

way so that each page links to
the other two pages. This
ensures that the audience learns
about the status quo, then learns
about specific cases and
examples of the status quo, then
learns how to take action and
actively solve this issue.

These pages will be made in a

way that links the pages to one
another. The bibliography and
the action plan is relevant to the
creation of the website, but is not
Sub Page - The action plan will relevant to fighting for the cause,
be attached either in a
meaning that they will be linked
document form, or an external
together, separate from all other
link that leads the audience to
pages.
the document.
Sub Page - The contact page
will be created on a separate
page on the website.

This page will be made

individual, with only the Home
page and the top/bottom menu
bar leading to this page.

Timeframe
Tasks

Deadlines
(Red = overdue, Green
= on time, Blue = task is
finished before deadline)

(If applicable) Why was the

deadline not met?

Action Plan - Finish outlining what needs

to be researched, and the overall
preparation for the research and the
task (excluding the evaluation section of
the Action Plan).

Feb 17th

N/A

Research Task - Researching necessary

information outlined in the previous
stage.

Feb 21th

N/A

Research Analysis - Analysing the

researched information for the website.

Feb 21th

N/A

Finding/Creating media needed for the

website - Finding and creating media
such as images, logos, and videos
needed for the website.

Feb 22th

N/A

Feb 29th

Stage took longer than

expected, but an extension of
the deadline was granted.

March 2nd

N/A

Creating the website - The actual

creation of the website. Writing texts,
inserting and resizing images and
logos, designing the website.
Evaluation of the task - Finishing the
evaluation stage of the Action Plan.

Research Notes
Research Topic:

Basic Notes of what I have found:

How are immigrant maids

are being mistreated?

- Immigrant maids are being refused the right of permanent

-

Why are immigrant maids

are being mistreated?

- Immigrant maids are dependent on their employers for their life in

-

What can be done to solve

the issue?

residency in Hong Kong.

Immigrant maids sometimes have to face being underpaid, and
even abuse.
4010 HKD of monthly payment, with around 102 working hours.
This roughly calculates into 10 HKD per hour. Foreign immigrant
maids need to pay for their personal use, as well as supporting
their family.
Hong Kong.
As immigrant maids have nowhere to go other than back to their
home country when they are fired or jobless, employers abuse their
maids, knowing that they are vulnerable and defenceless.
Immigrant maids do not have a place to go back to other than their
home country when they are fired or jobless, as they lack the
economic capability to do so.
Racism and xenophobia against foreign immigrant maids exists
within Hong Kongers, immigrant maids often face racism due to
being an ethnic minority.

- Granting permanent residency for foreign immigrant maids will help

solve this issue, as permanently residency would mean.
1. Foreign Immigrant maids would have access to public housing
and public healthcare.
2. A sense of identity and belonging will be created, along with a
safety net for foreign immigrant maids.
- Stricter punishment for employers who abuse their power over their
maids, such as underpaying them and physically abusing them.
Abusing and mistreating someone that is vulnerable and dependent
on you is deemed to be more immoral compared to other abuse,
which is the reason why there are stricter punishment for child
abusers, and why the society shuns child abusers. With the same
logic and philosophy, stricter punishment for abuse against foreign
immigrant maids needs to be implemented.

Evaluation
Things that need
improvement

Ways of improving

Although I feel like that I

have followed the action
plan thoroughly, I feel like
that I could improve on
including more details in
the action plan, as well as
following the action plan
more strictly.

As I have completed the

task, I know about the
details that were missing
in my action plan, and
how I could have
followed the action plan
more strictly. I will use this
knowledge to create and
plan out my action plan
better, as well as strictly
following it in the next
task.

As the subject of this task

is somewhat familiar to me,
it was easy for me to find
necessary information
required for my website.
Also, I only needed few
sources, as each sources
answered most of my
research questions, as well
as providing statistics and
images.

I feel like although I did a

decent job in finding
sources and using them, I
could have done better in
absorbing the information
from the source, by using
methods such as notetaking, summarising, and
paraphrasing.

I will improve on
absorbing the information
from a certain source
using methods of notetaking, summarising, and
paraphrasing, by using
these skills whenever I
need to understand and
absorb information from a
source.

Creating and
finding media
required for the
website

Creating and finding the

media required for the
website took the shortest
time out of all 4 listed
stages in the investigation,
as I had no problem
finding and creating
media.

Although I have
mentioned the websites
that I have gotten the
images from in the
bibliography page, I feel
like that I could have
sited the images better
by adding image links
and better bibliography.

I will improve on siting

information and media by
noting down and
mentioning the
bibliography of all
materials that I use in my
work.

Creating the
website

Creating the website was

the most interesting part of
the task. The thing that
went well in this stage is
that I enjoyed creating the
website, enjoying things
such as building the
pages element by
element, adding different
texts, etc.

Although I have
mentioned all the
contents that I wanted to
mention on the website, I
feel like that I could
improve on the aesthetics
aspect of the website, as
I think that aesthetics
would affect the viewer in
a significant way.

I will try and improve on

this aspect of aesthetics
possibly by receiving
constant peer feedback
from others to properly
reflect on my work as I
work through the task.

Stages in the
investigation:

Things that went well

Creating and following the

Creating &
action plan was easier
following action than expected. As I filled
plan
through the blanks of the
action plan template while
creating the action plan, I
developed an idea on the
chronological order in
which I will do this task.
Following the action plan
was very easy, as all I had
to do was do whatever is
stated on the action plan.
Collecting and
Recording
Appropriate
Information