Domestic workers, a godsend for Hong Kong women

If you go the Central (district) or Causeway Bay area of Hong Kong on weekends and public holidays, you will find masses of female (and some male) domestic workers gathering in parks, on designated pedestrian walkways, in the courtyards of huge commercial complexes and along the walkways of overhead pedestrian bridges. It is quite an amazing sight, and it forces you to realize the magnitude of Hong Kong’s foreign domestic workforce.

People grumble about all these spaces being occupied by immigrant workers because they, themselves, can no longer use them. Those who grumble have probably forgotten one very important fact: These domestic workers have freed the women of Hong Kong from the burden of being the main caregiver in their household.

The majority of domestic workers in Hong Kong are Filipinos, with an increasing proportion coming from Indonesia. Those from Indonesia are becoming more popular, as many of them can speak Cantonese, the local dialect, while those from the Philippines speak only English. A small proportion of the workers come from Thailand. While writing this , I learned from Wikipedia that foreign domestic workers make up approximately 3 percent of the local population. There were 284,901 of them in 2010.

We have been hiring domestic workers since the late 1970s. As I recall, they were initially hired to take care of babies and children in a family. In more recent years, many of them are being hired to look after seniors. Historically, women have been the main caregivers in society, and this is still the case. Women are expected to provide care to those in need within a family. For better or worse, domestic workers have set us free. For many, to support a family, both husband and wife need to work. Given the disappearance of large, extended families, the woman of the family often needs help if she is to work outside the home.

After having babies, Hong Kong women go back to work more frequently than women in Western countries. It is rather uncommon for local women to give up careers to stay home and raise their kids. The advantage may be more secure income for the family. The down side is that working parents sometimes over-compensate for lack of time spent with their children by spoiling them. Some of my friends and acquaintances may be highly educated, but they indulge their children just the same. To mitigate the guilty feelings they have for not spending enough time with their kids, they buy expensive toys and gifts, or allow poor choices of foods and games.

There may be many problems associated with having a domestic worker to help us run a home, but I still think that it is great for women in Hong Kong to have this option. A Hong Kong woman can live her life the way she wants. She can raise her kids at home but, if she chooses to have a career, she can hire a domestic worker.

Back to where I started—I think we shouldn’t grumble. We should be appreciative of foreign domester workers’ contribution to Hong Kong.

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.

I love TV!

Television, “human’s best friend”—from the movie “Son of the Mask”—is the symbol of idleness. A person who sits all day in front of the TV is a “couch potato,” lazy, sloppy and lacking in imagination and creativity.

But I do love TV. I love drama, and easily identify with the emotions of people portrayed in a dramatic series. Nowadays, when there is so much “reality TV” around, it is easy to get carried away and feel as if you have participated. There are many interesting stories in these shows: the rich guy who bravely takes to the streets and tries out life as a homeless person for a few days; a man or woman with a regular job in metropolitan London who briefly gives up all creature comforts and lives a tribal life in a remote part of the world. “The Deadliest Catch” helps me appreciate why king crabs are so expensive when they finally arrive on our plates.

I don’t necessarily agree with what these people do. For example, what right do these people from “civilization” have to intrude into the world of these tribes? But listening to the story of a young rich kid who became homeless made me more mindful of how I relate to and interact with homeless people.

TV provides free entertainment and, if you choose wisely, offers great entertainment. How else would I learn so much about the world of reptiles, wildlife rescues and the intelligence of the octopus, if not from “Animal Planet”? How else would we learn what to do in the “Worst Scenario” and what myths to debunk if not for the Discovery Channel?

TV is our connection to the world. I remember reading an article describing how some seniors who were not very mobile and had to stay indoors a lot had a kind of control center set up around them. They would sit in their most comfortable chair in the living room, with the TV in front of them and a remote control by their side. The telephone was also within arm’s reach. The way they were positioned, they could also see whatever was going on outside their living room window. I found this most interesting, and think maybe I will do the same when I am old.

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.

Immediate versus delayed gratification

When I was small, new clothes or new toys were only for special occasions, such as the New Year. So whenever my mom or big sister bought us a new dress, it had to be saved until the New Year before we could wear it. We were so excited and anticipation mounted as the time drew near. We were on Cloud Nine when we finally put on our new clothes.

Not so now.

I watch my nephews. Whenever I buy a new T-shirt for them, if they love it, they wear it immediately. They are very much part of a here-and-now generation.

When I was small, senior members in the family often told us to work hard, and said that hard work would earn us future opportunities. I watch the news. Young people nowadays do not really believe that. While in the past we grabbed hold of any job opportunity that came along if we needed a job, the younger generations in Hong Kong will only work if they can find the job they want. I can understand the sentiment. Unfortunately, the right job does not always come along that easily in life.

When we were kids, our parents told us to spend money wisely and keep our savings in the bank. We were often preparing for harder times, because we never knew what was coming next. Nowadays, the banks are pushing for a larger market share in credit-card business among college students. Some college students have acquired the habit of spending over their credit limit, accumulating large credit-card loans even before they graduate.

Some of my students think it is more important to spend money on the latest iPhone model than to buy textbooks. In fact, they can borrow a textbook from our school for the meager sum of HK $50 (US $6.40) a year, but not many do so.

Today, everyone in the world wants immediate gratification. Everything is about me, I, now.

You may think I am unsympathetic to the younger generation. Not so. This is the world we created for them. If we don’t like the way they are behaving, it is likely we are to blame, at least in part.

As a teacher, I am privileged to be able to mix with some really caring and conscientious young people. I know quite a number of them well, as they work for me as student assistants in my projects. Sometimes, when I look at them, I am happy knowing that, despite what we see and hear in the news, we do have a fine younger generation coming along.

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.