No place to call home: plight of Hong Kong’s pregnant domestic helpers

At five months pregnant, domestic helper Daisy* was kicked out of her Hong Kong employer’s home one night without warning.

Distraught and alone, the 32-year-old called home in Mindanao, the Philippines, crying over what had happened to her.

“It was in the middle of the night. I felt so scared as I was pregnant and I had no family or friends here I could turn to,” Daisy recalled.

She had arrived in Hong Kong in 2023 to work for a local couple who had a seven-year-old son but fell pregnant last December after spending a holiday at home.

Daisy said her employer initially appeared not to mind her pregnancy, but things took a turn for the worse in May when the couple tried to force her to agree to terminate her contract, telling her that her condition would affect her housework.

After she refused to quit, she was told by her employer to pack her bags and leave their home in Causeway Bay immediately on May 27, she said.

Daisy’s plight was not that unusual among domestic workers in Hong Kong who became pregnant, according to unions, support groups and helpers, pointing to various difficulties the women faced.