1 Movie Assignment 1

Movie Assignment 1 Hui Ling, Yong Oklahoma State University

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The movie The Help talks a lot about the socioeconomic gap created between the white and blacks that led to a difference in treatment of the two races. From the movie The Help, one issue I found related to present day society is the treatment of maids. Many parents employ maids to help cope with their household and child care duties similar to that of the Southern women portrayed in the movie. This is especially popular in Asian countries such as Malaysia, Hong Kong. Most maids come from Indonesia, Filipino, Vietnam and many more countries that are thought to be third world countries. They are thought as lower class and treated as such by their employers due to their socioeconomic background. In some cases, the maids were even abused and subject to rape. Such was the case in Qatar where a 32-year-old maid from the Philippines was gang raped by a group of Indian expatriates. In Malaysia, there were a series of cases where Indonesian maids were abused and it got to the point where Indonesia temporarily banned maids from getting employed in Malaysia on 26 June 2009. This might create a diplomatic rift between countries and possibly contempt between citizens of both countries. The treatment of maids of different race is not as extreme as portrayed in the movie but this issue is still as prominent as before until this day. Just because they have are of lower income does not make them less of a human. The rights of maids should be protected as well as respected by all. There should be stricter rules and regulations proposed by each countries to ensure that the maids are treated justly. Furthermore, there should be a way for maids to get in contact with their embassy when a problem arises as many maids get abused and rape continuously as they cannot get help. Lastly, more awareness should be created about this issue to stop the circulation of maid abuse.

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References Cheah, Royce. (2009, June). Indonesian maid ban: Busted businesses and households, The Star Online, retrieved from http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/6/26/nation/20090626143651&sec=nation

Joey Aguilar. (2013, September). Filipinos condemn rape of maid, Gulf Times Online , retrieved from http://www.gulf-times.com/qatar/178/details/364420/filipinos-condemn-rape-ofmaid