Italians define ‘Filippina’ as ‘cleaning woman’
10/8/09 ABS-CBN
Their prime minister also makes fun of US President Obama’s skin color
In Italy, a cleaning woman is often called “Filippina,” says an article in the October 1 issue of Time magazine, an indication of Italian society’s backwardness when it comes to the issue of race, the writer says.
The article was actually an update about Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s gaffe November last year, when he quipped that the next United States president “was young, handsome and had a good tan.” Berlusconi has refused to apologize for the gaffe, even calling his critics “embeciles.”
Written by Jeff Israely, the article “What Berlusconi’s Tan Obama ‘Jokes’ Say About Italy” relates that “in many ways mainstream Italian society is several generations behind the rest of the West when it comes to race.”
There are more than 80,000 Filipino migrants in Italy working mainly as domestic helpers, according to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.
Actually, domestic work is also done by many Ukrainian and Moldavian migrants. Along with Filipinos, they do house cleaning, baby sitting, and taking care of the aged, reports La Repubblica, the Rome-based Socialist newspaper.
The newspaper also notes that the Filipino domestics, aside from helping a lot of families back home with their remittances, have boosted the dwindling population of Catholic church-goers in Rome, especially the church of San Silvestre.
“In supposedly polite company, one can still hear the word negro which essentially translates into the N word. A cleaning woman is often generically referred to as ‘Filippina.’ Northern Italians joke that darker-skinned Southerners are ‘Moroccans,’” Israely continues.
Berlusconi’s “joke” about the color of Obama’s skin in November was certainly not his last. On September 27, he dropped the abronzato bomb again. Having returned from the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh, he told supporters in Milan that he carried greetings from “someone tan, what’s his name? Barack Obama!”
Berlusconi, 73, has been a very controversial prime minister. Last October 7, Italy’s top court ruled that a law granting Berlusconi immunity from suit violates the constitution, a verdict that will reopen trials against him for corruption and lavish parties with underage girls, and may undermine his government. (Newsbreak)
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