JEDDAH, 8 August 2005 — Saudis often find themselves in a quandary when cleaning issues arise or a meal needs to be cooked because they have never done either. To many the simple task of mopping a floor or even making a pot of tea can present a major challenge.
Many Saudis never do a single household chore, and some would not be able to tell you where to find the cleaning detergents and cleaning equipment in their own homes. The responsibility for household chores is left to a family’s domestic helper.
The average Saudi family has at least one servant helping in the daily chores of the house. “I work from six in the morning until late evening to clean a two-story home on my own,” said a young Filipina servant.
A servant is expected to do all of the tidying, cleaning and, in some cases, the cooking. Servants work long hours, have small living quarters, and receive a small salary. There have been reports of extreme cases where children are working as maids or of domestics who may be physically abused by their sponsors.
It is sad to note how many Saudis take their domestic help for granted. They don’t seem to understand that having a servant is a privilege. “I’ve always had a maid,” said a housewife. “I never had to think about what it meant; she was just always there.”
Part of this is due to a relatively high standard of living, which means a domestic worker can be gotten for a relatively low salary. “For all the work I do I get paid SR700 a month,” said the Filipina maid. “It is not a lot, but I really need the money.”
Many Saudis don’t realize the serious economic fallout of this practice, as thrifty, low-paid workers send money home to take care of their own families. This reliance on expatriate help sucks millions of riyals out of the economy for good. If Saudis did these jobs, the money would stay here, powering demand for goods and services, creating jobs and economic growth.
Servants do provide a service to their sponsors — a service that the sponsors are perfectly capable of doing themselves. Yet society dictates that all “prestigious” families have a servant to keep the house in order. Having a servant is expected in this society; not having a servant is seen as “shocking and out of the ordinary.” As a result, Saudi households have become overly dependent on domestic servants. “Even if the family is tight with money, the one thing many cannot seem to give up is the maid,” said one Saudi. “This says a lot about our society.”
From childhood, youngsters neither are asked to do chores nor are they taught basic household responsibilities. What they do learn is that a servant will always be there taking care of their homes for them. It is a rude awakening when they travel overseas and the request to send the maid up is met with laughter and disbelief.
There is no doubt that the typical Saudi family is large and at times may need extra help around the house. This does not mean that families should not be self-sufficient and delegate household tasks among themselves. Saudi families ought to be less dependent on their servants and realize that family responsibility also means being able to keep the house in order without being too reliant on outside help.
As the country becomes a bigger player in an increasingly competitive global marketplace, self-sufficiency will become more important if economic prosperity is to continue. Children being assigned chores learn the responsibility expected of adults in the workplace.
Perhaps the time has come for our society to emphasize self-reliance and reject the idea of domestic help being a luxury as opposed to being a necessity.
