"Decent Work for Domestic Workers in the Philippines: Vilma Gallenero." ILO/Flickr. (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
While the Philippines is renowned for exporting domestic labour around the world, the practice of hiring help is common in the Philippines as well, especially in wealthy households and for full-time working couples. In fact, the practice of having ‘house helpers’ or ‘kasambahay’ – the Filipino term for domestic worker derived from the words kasama (companion or someone you rely on) and bahay (house) – has been prevalent for as long as we can remember.
In the past, poor families would send their young children to work in wealthy households as a method for repaying debts, in exchange for their children’s education, or as a means to obtain in-kind or cash payments. Later on, poor families in the provinces allowed their children – mostly the girls, but some boys as well – to be recruited as domestic helpers in Manila. With time, the terms ‘maid’, ‘boy’, ‘tsimay’ (a Filipino slang word for house helper but with derogatory connotations), or ‘house helpers’ began to take on derogatory meanings.
