Ethics - Case Study Reflection

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/malaysian-couple-to-hang/1024102.html

Who is to blame for the death of the maid?

Ever since I could remember, I've been raised in a family where maids are part of the norm. However, they are not family exactly. Some of my maids had cleaned, fed, raised and taught me things just like any other mother could do, or even better.

Most of my maids were rather young, ranging from barely legal to 30. All these while, I treated them almost like my closest companion while I'm at home but my family had never treated our maids as family. They were always seen as a second class of people and despite my bond with some of them, that perspective sometimes influences me into thinking of them as lesser, hence I find the term of them being "modern-day slaves" rather apt.

I would assume that being a maid is not the first pick of a career option for most people hence most of these maids look as though there is no other choice of earning wages besides being maids. It is the last resort. With the mentality that maids are at our mercy of earning a living, I can easily imagine how some people can become twisted with the image of "owning" them as maids are full time helpers, ranging from a period of months to even years. These helpers live with us, yet we do not fully accept them into our lives, being shadows in the background.

Hence with these workers at the mercy of the agency and employer, the role and responsibility lays upon the latter two as the worker can be manipulated and mistreated when there aren't obvious enforcement of law and regulation towards the maids' safety and when the maids are gullible and at desperation, they will fall into the manipulation.

The maids would not be at wrong even if they are gullible as I believe that people would have the conscience to treat another being with respect and care and only those who choose to ignore them, will mistreat their maids, further concreting the responsibility of the employers ( if they are capable of employing the maid, I'm assuming they have means of making money which also means that they are fairly educated).

Reflecting on personal ethics - What does your response reveal about your notion of ethical decisions?

The story could be turned around where the maid could be a schemingly, manipulative person who takes advantage of an employer's empathy e.g. stealing money, lying.

But as employers and agency managers, the responsibility is high as they are in charge of the welfare of the maid. I think I may be bias towards the fault being of the employer and the maid agency as I feel like those in power should not use their power to manipulate others. The maids often being the less powerful one, should be protected.

Our ethical notion is constantly influenced by our society and as mentioned in sociocultural psychology, culture pretty much shapes us. However, we need to be active members of society that constantly reflects on the world we live in to make better and more ethical choices in life. The practice of ethics is simply not black and white and one must strive to read between the lines and learn what it means to be ethical or not based on knowledge and experience. That being said, theory always look better on paper and we can only try on our part to widen our perspectives to understand ethics better or let the rest of the world determine what kind of world we live in.