Sunday Queen delves into plight of ‘servants’

JAKARTA, Oct 24, (RTRS): Cyril Goliava cut an elegant figure in her yellow evening gown as she won a beauty pageant in Hong Kong, smiling to cheers from the crowd as she was presented with a tiara and trophy.

But the euphoria faded as the Filipina beauty queen removed her purple eyeshadow and fake eyelashes on a bus ride home, and thought of her week ahead.

“When I go home, it’s sad all of a sudden because your time with friends is over”, Goliava said.

“It’s another week of work. Six days of stressful work, I’ll be eating alone again and a full day of a repetitive job”.

The story of Goliava, a Filipina domestic helper, and her fellow workers is the subject of a new documentary that seeks to shatter stereotypes about the millions of women employed in households across the world.

Directed by filmmaker Baby Ruth Villarama, “Sunday Beauty Queen” follows five domestic workers as they gear up for the annual Miss Philippines Tourism Hong Kong, a pageant organised by the maids in the Asian financial hub since 2008.

The 94-minute documentary, which took four years to make, attempts to tell the women’s story from a different angle instead of the usual “depressing” way, Villarama said,