Mistreatment and assault

Some domestic helpers claimed to have unfortunately get physically, verbally, economically or mentally
mistreated, assaulted, abused or harassed by their employers.
In a survey targeted to 3,000 domestic helpers, 58% of them claimed that they suffered verbal abuse, 18% of
them suffered physical mistreatment, and 6% of them suffered sexual assault from their employers. Plus, a
professor who works in Hong Kong Baptist University has collected over 300 cases of domestic helper
abuse.
In the cases that were reported by the media, the methods of physical torture were mostly beating, and
rarely pouring hot water and ironing the victims body.
In terms of economic mistreatment, domestic helpers are originally paid a lot less than minimum wage for
local employees in Hong Kong. Plus, some employers take one step further and pay their domestic helpers
less than the minimum wage.
The number of domestic helpers being
assaulted or tortured

Difference of wage between local Hong

Kong citizens and domestic helpers
9000
8000

18%
6%
58%
18%

Monthly wage (in HK$)

7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
Verbal
Physical
Sexual
Not tortured
In a survey targeted to 3,000 domestic helpers, 58%,
18% and 6% claimed to have been verbally,
physically and sexually assaulted respectively.

Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, a domestic helper, was

injured seriously, especially on her feet, after a series
of physical torture held by her former employer.
Source of image: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/02/09/
asia/hong-kong-domestic-worker-erwiana/

1000
0

Local citizen

Domestic helper

If a local Hong Kong citizen works for 10 hours a day

and 30 days a month, his wage would be at least
$9,000. However, a domestic worker works for
approximately 15 hours a day, 6 days per week, and
only gets $4,010.