A stranger in the house: Foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong

Although foreign domestic helpers (FDHs) are the largest group of foreign residents in Hong Kong, the public usually gets nothing more than stereotypical images of them from mass media. FDHs have always been a “semi-invisible” community here. Also, there is little baseline information available to the public and to policy-makers on the profile of FDHs.
Making use of a sample survey of over 2,500 FDHs done by the Asian Migrant Centre in 2000, this paper seeks to describe the socio-economic characteristics and working conditions of FDHs in Hong Kong. Also, an analysis of the 2001 Population Census has supplemented the profile of their employers and the characteristics of the households employing FDHs. The analyses have outlined the difficulties that the FDHs face in Hong Kong, such as the occurrence of contract violations, physical abuse, and unequal treatment of FDHs in public life and social policies.
外籍家庭傭工(外傭)是香港人數最多的外籍居民，但社會大眾對他們的認識往往只透過零碎的傳媒報道，並一向視他們為「半隱匿群體」。政府亦甚少公開外傭的資料供市民大眾以至決策者作參考。本文除運用Asian Migrant Centre於2000年訪問2,500多位外傭的問卷調查資料，以闡述在港外傭的社經背景和工作待遇外，亦會利用2001年香港人口普查的數據，分析僱用外傭的僱主及住戶特徵。本文旨在綜合兩組數據，勾勒外傭身處香港所面對的問題，包括僱主合約違規、人身傷害，以及在日常生活和社會政策中遭受的不公平待遇。 Copyright © 2005 Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.