Right to Work
Editorial; 29/4/08
Reports about runaway housemaids, abused housemaids, unpaid housemaids, criminal — even murderous — housemaids surface all too often in our media. Although the overwhelming majority of housemaids do not fall into any of those categories, there is an issue there — and it is firmly linked to the fact that virtually all housemaids in the Kingdom are expatriates. There are here alone, working behind closed doors, invisible to all except the families they work for; and they probably do not know their rights either. That makes them potentially vulnerable. Inevitably there are a few unscrupulous employers who take advantage of the situation. It is no mystery why housemaids are invariably expatriate — 1.5 million of them working in the country, mostly from Indonesia and the Philippines. The reason is a cultural bias. Conservative elements view the idea of Saudi women working for another family with distaste.
See: http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=109426&d=29&m=4&y=2008
Tags: Religion, Saudi Arabia, Womens Rights, Workers