JEDDAH, 30 September — More than 16,000 cases of maids who have fled their sponsors were reported last year, according to a prominent Saudi sociologist.
Dr. Abdullah Al-Fowzan, professor of sociology at King Saud University in Riyadh, blamed the families, the recruitment agencies and the maids themselves for the increasing phenomenon.
Ill-treatment and failure to receive regular payments are only some of the causes that forced maids to flee their sponsors, Dr. Al-Fowzan said, and called for a review of the Kingdom’s maid recruitment policy and related regulations.
“In some cases, maids took to flight to escape ill-treatment by members of the employer’s family living in the same house. But there were also cases where the maids were being influenced by their compatriots, who tempt them to run away,” Al-Fowzan told Al-Riyadh newspaper.
The recruitment offices, on the other hand, give the maids rosy promises. “But when they arrive in the Kingdom, they face an entirley different situation,” he said.
