' : ' ` ` should be embarrassed '' about record on domestic worker rights . `` They 're being paid so little that they ca n't even afford to take off that one day a week , '' Varia says , adding , `` A lot of them are doing this to survive and to support their families back home . '' Just over 200,000 foreign domestic workers live and work in one in five Singaporean homes . Survey shows only 12 % of city - state 's foreign domestic workers have a day off a week . Fierce resistance from employers to calls for more days off .
' : ' ` ` should be embarrassed '' about record on domestic worker rights . Just over 200,000 foreign domestic workers live and work in one in five Singaporean homes . Survey shows only 12 % of city - state 's foreign domestic workers have a day off a week . Fierce resistance from employers to calls for more days off .