Nanny law is out of date

Nanny law is out of date

Sumeth Mahosot, director-general of the Employment Department, Ministry of Labour, dropped a bombshell on working mums this Mother's Day. He told them they are breaking the law by hiring migrant nannies to look after their children.

That's not all. He also told them they should raise their children themselves. Should they need help, the nannies must be Thai nationals.

Mr Sumeth is under fire for making the ill-timed statement and being insensitive to the struggles of working mothers. But the problem does not stop there. After all, his view is shared by others. In fact, it underscores deep-rooted patriarchal and ethnic prejudice in mainstream society, which manifest itself in labour policy and the mindset of officials.

If this continues, better state assistance for working women and less oppressive migrant labour policy will be hard to come by.

Mr Sumeth made his statement in support of child-rearing concerns raised by Dr Duangporn Asvarachan, a paediatrician and the deputy director of Phra Nakhon Sri Ayutthaya Hospital. Each country has a distinct national character, she said. If small children are left in the hands of migrant nannies — who bring with them different social behaviour, language and thinking — the Thai character of the next generation will be diluted.

Fear not, said the labour executive. According to the law, migrant workers from Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar are only allowed to work as manual labourers and domestic helpers. If they are hired as nannies, it is against the law.

The restrictive policy was designed more than three decades ago to keep certain jobs in Thai hands. But it contradicts the real demands of the current work market. Mr Sumeth should be well aware of this. When Thailand's economy is intertwined with the global economy and when women make up more than half of the labour force, outdated rules should be amended and new policies formulated to respond to needs.

For starters, child care is not merely a middle-class worry eased by the help of migrants. Women who work have to send their kids back home to be cared for by relatives because labour authorities refuse to respond to demands for mandatory workplace and community nurseries.

If paediatricians want to see better childhood development, they should help push for this policy. If child well-being is really their concern — not nationalism — they should also support childcare and education for migrant children. Leaving them outside the system is a social timebomb. This is what society should be worrying about.

Clinging on to outdated work policy rooted in ultra-nationalism does not serve the country's best interests.

For example, traditional crafts are restricted to Thais only. When few young people want to be trained and migrant workers are barred from filling the gap, the country loses. When the country is in dire need of skilled workers, barring migrants from training to increase productivity is again the country's loss. When Thailand is rapidly ageing and needs all the skilled youngsters it has to shoulder the welfare burden to come, refusing to embrace and educate migrant children is a waste of valuable human resources.

The Thai nannies policy is an example of the ethnic prejudice against neighbouring countries which dominates our oppressive migrant policy. This is reflected in constant deadlines for migrant worker registration, restrictions on movement and occupations, prohibition against job changes, and refusal to grant migrant workers the minimum wage or labour rights.

Thailand needs to tackle this prejudice if it wants to avoid social problems and succeed in the competitive global economy.

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