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The Living Ironies in “Asia’s World City” Jade Poon (GSIS) Artwork by Jaclyn Solomon (STC) For decades, Hong Kong has built up its reputation as a free and dynamic society of modernity, creativity, and entrepreneurship. And just as its standing as a global city has steadily grown, foreign domestic helpers (FDHs) have become an integral part of day-to-day life in the bustling streets of Hong Kong. But despite their vital role in society, FDHs face constant discrimination and even abuse within their own households, to the point where a sense of personhood is lost. Three key points will be analysed: one, cases of employers controlling almost every aspect of a domestic helper’s life; two, acts of resistance against employers that allow FDHs to maintain a sense of personal agency and identity; and three, the unfair trials and specific laws in Hong Kong that actively oppress FDH rights.
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The abuse and controlling behaviour that FDHs endure can be viewed in two main ways: physical punishment and the act of controlling their appearance. Parallels may be drawn between FDHs
and *muijais (妹仔) in Hong Kong society prior to the 1920s. Like muijais, FDHs are often forced by employers to engage in illegal activities or overwork to the point of exhaustion, and may frequently be beaten, starved, or locked inside rooms for days on end, while also facing physical assault. This can be interpreted through Foucault’s theory of power, in which discipline is a form of power that indicates how people should act and produces obedience. The use of physical means to assert dominance is one of the most direct forms of discipline, using pain and the fear that comes from it to school FDHs and muijais into obedience, making them docile bodies. It’s important to note that muijais were treated not as people, but as objects owned by employers. Their social identity consisted purely of being a commodity for employers to use, especially since they had been taught and treated to be servants to carry no will of their own. Comparatively, FDHs possess a contract meant to preserve their rights, and more importantly, a life outside Hong Kong, where they act as breadwin-
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