RIYADH, 8 August 2006 — Abuse of housemaids is mostly physical rather than sexual, according to a new study conducted by the Ministry of Social Affairs. Dr. Maha Al-Muneef of the newly established National Family Safety Program (NFSP) said that while most domestic abuse cases involve the family as both perpetrator and victim, “we are now seeing a small percentage of physical abuse cases concerning housemaids.”
Awad Al-Radadi, undersecretary at the Ministry of Social Affairs, said the findings of the study released yesterday on domestic abuse showed that the victims of violence, such as wives and children, are more likely to suffer from negligence and psychological abuse rather than physical or sexual abuse.
But, he says, “the cases of physical abuse come to light only when they are reported to the authorities.”
The government has sought to address the issue of domestic abuse with its decision to set up family courts. At another level, family-counseling sections will also be established with branches throughout the Kingdom and qualified professionals to educate the masses on preventing violence within the family.
The report recommends that concealing family violence should be made a punishable offense to encourage people to report the incidence promptly to the nearest center.
The study has stressed the importance of launching social awareness campaigns to enlighten parents on ways of controlling themselves when dealing with their children. It also called upon educational and religious institutions to fulfill their obligations in dealing with the phenomenon.
The reasons for violence in the family are attributed to broken homes due to divorces in the family, death of breadwinners, youths taking to drugs and sudden financial problems.
The problem has assumed an alarming dimension with Saudi children’s growing dependence on maids for attending to all the household chores.
For his part, the minister of labor lamented recently to propensity for Saudis to become dependent on domestic servants to the point of feeling a deep entitlement to them.
“In this society, the healthy teenager needs a maid to bring him a glass of water that is exactly 10 meters away. This is yet another revolting sight,” Ghazi Al-Gosaibi told the Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper in a recent interview. “It really causes me a great deal of depression,” he said. “You hear in this society a little girl talking about ‘her Filipino’ or ‘her Indonesian’ maid, and this girl is barely four years old.”
