Staying connected: Migrant Domestic Workers and mobile phone restrictions
Mobile phones have quickly become an integral part of people’s lives, and we’ve come to depend on them in many ways. Most adults take it for granted to have access to their devices whenever they need them, but this is not the case for everyone.
At HOME’s shelter for migrant domestic workers (MDWs) we hear of many MDWs not having access to, or limited access to communication devices. These restrictions can have far fetching consequences. Currently, there are no regulations by the Ministry of Manpower on MDWs’ phone use. Thus, rules around mobile phone use are left completely to employers. It is not uncommon for employers to enforce restrictions on mobile phone usage during working hours, but when the distinction between work and free time is less clear, as is the case with domestic work, it sometimes results in MDWs having extremely minimal or no access at all to their phones. This is particularly problematic considering many of these migrants are wives and mothers that left their families and young children behind in their home countries.
The sense of entitlement employers feel towards policing their domestic worker’s phone useage.
During a writing workshop, we asked HOME’s shelter residents why their mobile phones are important to them, what they like to use them for, and what restrictions their employers put on them. Almost all the stories started by stating ‘my phone is important to me because I use it to connect with my family and friends’. Interestingly, those that were allowed to use their mobile phone during work hours also noted how it helped them do their job better. Let’s hear from some MDWs directly.
“The phone is important to me to call my family and friends. I worked for my first employer for 3 years and I had no off day. I had no phone, my employers kept it with them. There was no wifi and I could not go out to buy data. In one month, they would allow me to use my phone once for 20 minutes. But then my ma’am was hurrying me too ‘I want to go out, are you not finished talking yet?’
My latest employer did not allow me to use the phone during the day, only for one hour at night from 10.30 to 11.30. I have a son who is 13 years old. I talk to him at night. I am lucky, because in Myanmar it is 1.5 hours earlier and for him it is only 9 pm then and he is awake. I also used Whatsapp and Messenger to come to the HOME shelter. A friend in Singapore told me about HOME and gave me the number.”
(Khin Win from Myanmar)
For migrant workers from the Philippines and Indonesia, the time difference does not work in their favour. Many of them mention that because of their long working hours, they are not able to call home in time to speak to young children before they go to bed.
“I use my handphone for talking to my family and sometimes to talk to a friend. Sometimes I want to watch YouTube or use the translate app. I don’t understand much English so I need to use my handphone, that is why my phone is important to me. But my employer did not give it to me. I could not use it all day, only at night for one hour. The problem was at that time my child was sleeping so I could not talk to my child. If my employer needed to talk to me she would call the house phone and talk to me about what I needed to do and not needed to do.”
(Kusni from Indonesia)
Some employers worry that allowing unlimited access to their phones will distract a MDW from her job, particularly when there is caregiving of young children or elderly that need constant supervision. In these cases having phone restrictions during work hours can be reasonable, for example, only using the phone during breaks, but a problem arises when MDWs are not given adequate free time during the day. Several MDWs told us their only time for phone access was half an hour on Sunday, or half an hour late at night after work.
“When I was at the home of my employer they gave me my phone for 30 minutes during my rest time, which was usually between 11 and 12pm. In the morning I woke up at 5.40 to start work. When I had my phone I called my children and my family and I was very happy, and my children told me they missed me. But I had to stay and work, for the future of my son and daughter.”
(Dina from Indonesia)
Not being able to communicate with friends and family can increase feelings of loneliness. MDWs that do not have access to a support network are also more vulnerable to mental health issues.
“Everyday I work from 5am to 10pm. I work to clean the house and look after the children. I have irregular breaks and meals and I am not allowed to hold my cell phone, my employer keeps my cell phone. I have had some traumatic experiences and I feel very sad when I can not call my family. I think my employer is not nice, not to give me my phone so I cannot call my family and my children.”
(Aye Aye Myint from Myanmar)
“My phone is important to me. When I was depressed, I wanted to talk to my parents every night. They listened to me. I listened to music. I had to give my phone to my employer when I woke up in the morning at 5.30am and she would give it back to me at 9pm.”
(Mya Mya from Myanmar)
Many MDWs accept unfavourable terms because they don’t feel they are in the position to say no to a job as Sheryll from Philippines explains:
“My employer took my phone and allowed his son to use it. But what was I gonna do even if I didn’t want to? I gave in because I was a helper, and nothing to my employer.”
Shelter residents taking part in the writing workshop.
The example below shows an experienced MDW who rejected a job as it set unreasonable phone restrictions:
“I say it is very important for a helper to use a handphone. Because I have a family, I have a daughter and she is 13 years old. The first time I left my daughter she was 1.5 years old, that is why I said it was so important to me to have the handphone, I needed to call my parents to ask if she was ok, healthy, and to hear news about her. I was very lucky, my first employer when I came to Singapore in 2015 was a good family and they allowed me to use my phone when I needed to call my family. For me, I don’t need to hold my phone for the whole day, only when I need it. If my employer allows me to use the phone in my free time I’d be very thankful to them. I can use it to talk with my friends, to watch movies or to listen to music. If an employer would not allow me to use the phone at all I would be very sad, upset, and unhappy because I would feel worried about my daughter.
So far in 20 years working in Singapore all my employers have allowed me to use my phone, not always for a whole day but at least I could use it. Two months ago I had an interview with a new employer who required me not to use the phone from 7am to 7pm. I did not take the job. My daughter lives on a small island where the mobile signal is not really good, she must go out to the beach to look for a signal. So if I call her at nighttime it is dangerous for her to go out there. Also at night she sometimes has religious classes from 7 to 9pm, and when she comes home she is tired and needs to go to sleep. I asked that employer if I could have my phone for one hour during my lunch break instead of in the evening. But they said no, only phone after 7pm.”
(Ratna from Indonesia)
In another case, an MDW succeeded to convince her employer to allow her access to her phone:
“I think the phone is important to me because I can use google translate…when my employer asks me something and I don’t understand.
Last time, my previous employer took my phone away and I felt very sad because I could not call my family, so I always cried every night. But I had no choice. I was very afraid for my child because I did not know how she was doing. So I tried to be brave and talk to my ma’am. I said ‘can you give me my phone because I need to call my family’ and then my employer gave it back because she saw me looking so very sad. But she did tell me I could use my phone only when it was very important. I felt very happy because my employer understood me and had listened to me. And I felt lucky I could use my phone again.”
(Murnia from Indonesia)
Fitriani describes using a creative way to bring her phone into Singapore, and how she uses her phone during her rest time to brush up on her language skills:
“I remember the first time I came to Singapore in 2017. The training centre I joined did not allow me to bring my phone, but I was clever enough to hide it. I decided to take my phone in pieces, one by one. I took out the battery and put it between some snacks. Another part of my phone I put in the pocket of my shorts. This way I managed to bring my own phone into Singapore, because having my phone is very important to me. If we want to call people, or if we need help to translate something or to communicate with people, we need our phone. I needed to inform my family in the village that I had safely arrived in Singapore.
But then my employer told me I could not use my phone at their house either. I could use their telephone to call home for 30 minutes. After working for them for a month they found out I had a handphone and I was lucky, they allowed me to use it as long as I did my work properly. Sometimes I would work while listening to music on my headphones, so I could learn some English words from the songs I listened to. Because my first employer did not know how to speak English either. During my rest time I sometimes opened YouTube to learn English, or watched English movies with Indonesian subtitles. I was really curious and wanted to learn English so I decided to make friends with people from different countries, so I could converse with them on social media, even though at that time my English was so bad. But I didn’t mind. I had google translate, and I could also use google to practice my English. On my day off I went to the library to get books to read and learn new words. I would read the book with my phone to help translate. But what worked best for me to learn English was listening to music every day with English lyrics, it helped me a lot to understand and speak English!”
(Fitriani from Indonesia)
An MDW from Myanmar had her phone confiscated and surveilled by her employer, and had to find a way to retrieve it to reach out for help:
“My employer allowed me to use my phone at night time. The rest of the time, I had to put it in front of the CCTV. If I can not use my phone I am not ok. I want to tell you about the last day at my employer’s house. Before I ran out, I needed to connect with my Myanmar and Singapore agency. At the time, my employer was overseas, but they always checked me on the CCTV. So this morning, I took my phone out of the cover and put the phone cover in front of the CCTV and took my phone with me and contacted my two agencies. They advised me what to do. In the afternoon, I ran away and went to MOM. After that I got in touch with HOME for help. If I had not had a phone I would not have been able to ask for help, so that time my phone was very important to me.”
Many MDWs also share how the phone helps them do their job better, and to reach out for help in emergencies:
“We are domestic workers and we need the phone not just for our entertainment but also regarding our job scope, mostly if we are taking care of elderly, kids or infants and babies.
We know about the limits of phone use. It would be great if our employer can give us the opportunity to hold our phone even with some rules or limited to our free time…The phone is also important to us when we really need help if anything dangerous happens. For example, when we get abused, when we are with elderly or kids outside or inside the house, because we don’t know what will happen, what is coming to us.”
(Nora from Indonesia)
Nora’s point is important. She experienced how scary it can be when MDWs have no means to reach out to the outside world in an emergency:
“I had an experience when I just came to work in Singapore, when my ma’am took away my phone. I was inside with grandma and they locked the gate when my ma’am went to work. It was really stressful as I missed my family and I could not talk to them for about 8 months. I was taking good care of grandma who was just lying in bed, she could not move and needed tube feeding. What made me really sad and scared was a moment when grandma was in a bad shape and could not breathe and I did not know who I could reach out to for help. I was crying and screaming behind the gate. Eventually the neighbours heard me and called an ambulance. It was even more unlucky when help finally came they could not get in the gate also. Later grandma passed away.
I was so worried they would blame me for her death. Then I changed employers.
So it was almost one year that I could not hold my phone after I came to Singapore, from when I stayed in the agency shelter until with my first employer. When I missed my family I wrote a letter and paid to send the letter by post, but the letter never arrived with my family.
In emergencies, or when I was really stressed, my ma’am would allow me to use the phone once on Sunday, only from 9 to 10pm with the rule that I had to pay the cost myself.”
(Nora from Indonesia)
Mobile phones allow us to manage our lives more easily, and MDWs are no different from anyone else. They want to do their job the best they can and a mobile phone helps them navigate life and work in a foreign country. It can help to combat loneliness and homesickness. Like all of us, MDWs simply want to feel connected.
“I think the phone is so important because now all the people use their handphone to take care of anything. With a phone we have all the information in the world at our fingertips. I can call my family, even when I stay so far away. My handphone can translate when I don’t understand people in this foreign country. Communication is so important. With my phone, when I have any problem, I can ask for help. I can use my phone to find a new job, order food, or order anything I like. I can learn things. I can take pictures of important moments to remember them. I can ask my friends when I don’t know something.
When my employer takes my phone away I feel very sad, especially because I am working overseas, because I can’t call my family when I miss them. I also feel bad because I can’t use the translate app and there are many things my employers say that I don’t understand properly and then I worry I will get it wrong and they will get angry. Without a phone I also can’t look up recipes online, I can’t use google maps to go to the supermarket or anywhere, because sometimes I am confused and can’t find the way home. Without my phone everything is more difficult. “
(Dewi from Indonesia)