He found them in China, and is claiming to be offering what is believed to be the first female pallbearer service in Singapore.

Mr William Quek, 50, managing director of Union Casket at Toa Payoh Industrial Park in Lorong 8, thought of the idea a few years ago.

He said male customers had remarked that they were uncomfortable with male pallbearers dressing up their dead female relatives.

He thought he could provide a useful service if he could hire female pallbearers to also be assistants to his two male embalmers from the Philippines.

But getting the right people was harder than he thought.

He said: 'I tried a few years ago and again last year. But the moment they (local women) heard the word 'pallbearer', they got worried.

'Some were superstitious, and others were afraid of losing face if they were to take the job.

'They were pressured by family and friends to find jobs at restaurants or at shopping centres with better pay or better working hours.'

The female pallbearers-cum-embalming assistants hired by Mr Quek earn more than $1,000 a month, including tips, and they get an extra $20 each for every case they work on after office hours.

The women work between 8am and 6pm each day and get Sundays and public holidays off.

Mr Ang Chin Moh, 58, manager of Ang Chin Moh Undertaker, said there were no female pallbearers in Singapore. But he felt they should not be carrying coffins.

He said: 'In this trade, women should not do such heavy-duty work. They may drop the coffin and it would be very hard to explain to the relatives.

'It's also very hard to get a whole team of female pallbearers.

'And if you combine male and female pallbearers, it might be unstable as their strengths are different.'

When contacted, an employee at Singapore Casket said they did not have female pallbearers.

A check on the websites of other funeral parlours here showed none has a female pallbearer service.

Mr Quek, faced with a labour shortage and working on the feedback from clients, eventually contacted a labour agent in China and was put in touch with Madam Qi Shu Zhen, 39, and Madam Zhao Shu E, 33.

He said he looked to China because many Singaporeans understood Mandarin.

Both women, who are married and come from Dalian, arrived here last week.

They had worked together at a nursing home in China and cared for elderly patients.

They had experience dealing with the dead as they would wash and clothe patients who had died.

Madam Qi, who has a 16-year-old son, said she had no qualms about handling corpses.

She said in Mandarin: 'It's a noble job. It's the dead's final journey and we are helping them make that journey.'

Madam Zhao, who has a 6-year-old daughter, said dressing up the dead was like taking care of a family member who had died.

She said she was happy to come here as they were both earning less than $400 a month in China.

Besides washing corpses, dressing them and applying makeup, the women also help to carry coffins with four male colleagues.

Mr Quek said a body would weigh about 70kg each and the coffin about 40kg each.

COMFORT

The other advantage to having these female workers, Mr Quek said, was that they could also comfort grieving female relatives.

He said: 'There have been women who cry and were about to faint. But we men can't put our arms around them to comfort them.

'But the women pallbearers can do that. It's a woman's touch.'

He plans to bring in two more female pallbearers in two months' time.

The chairman of another funeral service company, Trinity Casket, Mr Freddie Choo, 54, said he did not have female pallbearers, although he had tried getting some a few years ago.

SUPERSTITIOUS

He said it was unsuccessful because people tended to be superstitious.

Both he and Mr Quek said female pallbearers are more common in Australia. One company, called White Lady Funerals, in Australia, has an all-women working team.

On the issue of who cleans and dresses up a dead body, Mr Choo said he felt that most people would not mind whether it was a man or a woman doing the job.

He even has a female embalmer from the Philippines because he felt that male customers would prefer a woman to embalm their female loved ones.

This female embalmer only takes care of women and young children.

Mr Choo said: 'She has to clean body parts as well and the thought of a man doing that is not so pleasant.'

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,160874,00.html