advice on 5190-4886
Q: How do migrant women become vulnerable?
A: When a foreign domestic helper loses her job in Hong Kong, she has two weeks to find new employment before her visa expires. If her visa expires and she chooses not to return home, she becomes powerless and isolated, losing access to basic welfare services.
Hong Kong hides a vulnerable group of such undocumented migrant women, whose situations are frequently exacerbated by pregnancy. All too often, these women and their Hong Kong-born children fall through the safety nets established by social services and government organisations.
Q: Why do migrant women overstay their visas?
A: Distressed migrant women overstay their Hong Kong working visas for several reasons:
- Many are financially desperate. As the family breadwinners, working illegally in Hong Kong presents a better option than returning to limited employment opportunities back home.
- Some are owed money by their ex-employers. This can include money for a ticket home, rendering them unable to leave.
- They fear harassment from loan companies if they return prior to completing their contracts. It can cost up to HK$30,000 in employment agency fees to enter Hong Kong for a 2-year contract. Consequently, most migrant women owe large debts to agencies back home.
- Some hide here to protect themselves from abusive family situations at home.
- Some fear being ostracised at home because they have become pregnant out of wedlock and borne mixed-race children.
Q: Why do migrant women become pregnant?
A: Many migrant women are naïve or afraid to receive sexual education. As a result, they have incorrect perceptions of how pregnancy is brought about, and how to prevent it.
Others are unable to defend themselves against men who pressure them into engaging in unprotected sex. And sometimes contraceptives simply fail.
Q: What happens when an undocumented woman becomes pregnant?
A: An undocumented woman lacks access to social welfare services such as ante- and postnatal care, birth records, immunisations and other medical services. Furthermore, she is often unable to support herself.
If she becomes pregnant, she may deliver in unsanitary conditions for lack of documentation. Or she may attempt to induce an abortion through the use of questionable drugs, putting herself and her unborn child in danger.
If she gives birth, she may fear returning home with her illegitimate mixed-race child for fear of being ostracised. Instead, both she and the child live in hiding to avoid imprisonment.
In this precarious position, she becomes vulnerable to predators that may include her boyfriends, employers and even her friends. Even if she surrenders herself to Immigration authorities, it will be a struggle to cover medical, legal and living expenses.