When she was an expatriate in Singapore, the Minister of National Education, Anne Genetet, managed a company specializing in the training and recruitment of domestic staff. His “advice” for managing servants caused controversy. Why are they problematic? The point of view of a philosophy professor who taught for a long time in Singapore.
A few hours after her appointment, on September 21, the new Minister of National Education, Anne Genetet, faced controversy. At issue: comments made concerning “helpers” (as foreign domestic workers are called in Singapore) which have resurfaced on the Internet.
Based for several years in the city-state which hosts the largest number of head offices in Asia, Anne Genetet provided advice through Help Agency, her “consulting company in the recruitment and management of domestic workers” to expatriates.
On her company’s website, now archived, the minister explains that “helpers expect an annual increase”, and that it is important to “adjust the starting salary to your capacity for future increases”. Regarding paid leave, it is recalled that it is “neither obligatory nor recommended: it is left to the free choice of the employer”. Based on the recommendations of the Singaporean government, the agency underlines the importance of checking the financial situation of the employee: “try to assess her debt: a candidate in debt is preoccupied with her work and will ask you for advances on salary.
Providing such training for domestic workers is not illegal, but the education minister is criticized for giving advice that is denigrating and sometimes class-contempt.
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The “maids” at the mercy of their boss
Singapore’s population is made up of a third of immigrants. These form a group of foreign workers, with extremely regulated and regulated tasks and skills: from construction workers to expatriate business managers.
Men are exploited for their labor force: a Malaysian, an Indian will be welcomed on site to carry out difficult tasks, particularly in construction, port areas, with poor social security before being sent home as soon as it is “out of use”. Women domestic workers represent 270,000 people and constitute the second largest group of foreign workers in Singapore.
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They must be between the ages of 23 and 50 and from approved countries, such as Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines. To obtain their license, they must have received education at a recognized educational institution and undergo a medical screening for infectious diseases.
Once their job begins, their tasks may involve housekeeping, childcare, cooking, shopping, or caring for elderly or sick family members. The young woman – there can be no men – is then at the mercy of her boss: it is he who sets her working hours, her days of rest, her holidays. The employer is even responsible for her exit from the territory and it is not uncommon for the “helper’s” passport to be confiscated to ensure that she does not escape.
Fed and housed in often cramped rooms, these servants are subject to a form of enslavement that is completely tolerated, even accepted by the local population. Some Singaporeans also think that these women should be paid less.
The employer chooses the one who knows how to cook according to his tastes, cleans well, takes good care of the children and knows how to remain discreet. Then, when it is time to part with the servant (for different reasons, often leaving Singapore), she is “put back” on the market where everyone will more or less highlight her qualities.
You just have to go to the pages of expatriate communities in Singapore on social networks to see it. We can read: “always smiling, hard workingup at 6:30 a.m., a machine all day”; “she stayed with us for 9 years to brilliantly take care of our 3 children”; “she has incredible energy, she is independent and efficient, she manages the whole house”; “she’s a real Marie Kondo”; “discreet, she knows how to put herself aside”; “she doesn’t leave the house until she has done a minimum of cleaning. »
Treat yourself to servants
The legal minimum wage for these servants (that which is mostly proposed) is around 400 euros: a figure to be compared to the average wage on the island, over 5,000 euros per month). Note that it is very rare for a French expatriate to return to the country with his or her “helper” – except during the holidays – the cost becoming too high given the legal minimum and the working conditions imposed.
We can recall that the use of servants in France continued until a recent period, until industrialization and the improvement of working conditions at the beginning of the 20th century.e century pushed working-class workers to seek jobs in factories.
If domestic work still exists today (like housekeepers or childcare), it is regulated by laws (working hours, remuneration, etc.). The model of servants often living in employers’ homes and working many hours without much protection almost disappeared in France in the mid-20th century.e century.
If, in Singapore, expatriates very often choose to call on these servants, it is to ensure that daily tasks will be carried out by someone who does not cost much and who saves time or rather to buy yourself time – for tennis, yoga classes, triathlon preparation, your career or your travels. This situation allows the wealthiest to get rich while benefiting from the comfort offered by the Singaporean government.
Responsibility and exemplarity
The minister defends herself by saying that she created her company to allow “helpers” to emancipate themselves through their work. This statement can only be surprising, as there are so many organizations in Singapore working in this direction. Perhaps it would have been fairer to put oneself at their service.
Aidha for example is a non-profit organization founded in 2006 that focuses on the economic empowerment of low-income migrant domestic workers and women in Singapore. This association offers training programs in financial skills, entrepreneurship and personal development.
The minister deliberately chose this service based on one operating system of the other. This is what poses a problem. Everyone does what they want while respecting the laws of the host country: this is not a legal question but an ethical issue.
What is even more problematic is that Anne Genetet is in charge of the most important ministry and precisely that of education, in other words that of exemplarity. His appointment raises the question: what messages are we sending to our population of schoolchildren, middle schoolers and high school students? That we can exploit the other? How can we promote respect when we don’t respect the employee at home?
We can bet that the new minister will take care to counter this image by not exploiting national education teachers but, on the contrary, by upgrading their status and their salaries which, after ten or fifteen years of seniority is 15% lower than the average of OECD countries. Although she has no experience in the field of education – as an MP, her interventions mainly focused on the tax regime for expatriates – Anne Genetet could draw inspiration from the methods of the Singaporean government. Teachers’ salaries are on average 4,200 euros per month and, each year, a “Teacher Day” is organized at the start of the school year to highlight the importance of education, respect and the transmission of knowledge.
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