Domestic employment has invaded our style of living since our country’s days of prosperity began. We have been suffering ever since from uncounted problems, which seem to have no solution. Families suffer loss and abuse by illegal employees, especially during high seasons such as Ramadan and the beginning of school semester.
In special seasons, domestic employees take advantage of families. There is no loyalty: Legal domestic employees will flee their sponsors in search of greater income immediately after arriving in the country. (Granted, sometimes they run away searching for proper behavior and treatment they do not find inside their sponsors’ homes.)
Prosperity has introduced a lot of disadvantages into our communities. A major disadvantage is the dependence on foreign employment. Even when the family is suffering from poverty, it still insists on having a servant or a maid.
Women are more dependent on domestic workers, especially now that their role in society has changed. The workingwoman needs a driver to fulfill requirements of her daily routine. The problem becomes further complicated when there are so many women and girls residing in the same house and need to commute daily to work or to school.
To make things easier, the Labor Ministry has announced the possibility of creating special companies to provide part-time domestic workers. I hope that having similar companies would persuade people to avoid hiring illegal employees.
Our society struggles with domestic workers, but it cannot survive without them. Although we need them so much, some people abuse them and mistreat them in a way that is against moral and Islamic ethics.
Housewives and mothers are aware of how dangerous it can be when servants are present in the house. Women even admit that having domestic employers causes trouble, yet still insist on having maids even if the whole family falls apart.
Moreover, the new generation will become very different from their ancestors if things continue to be this way. Children and teenagers grow up lazy and dependent on home servants. Even when a fully-grown woman gets married, she takes her own maid to her new house because she is incapable of taking on marriage responsibilities.
The domestic workers problem is one so many writers and thinkers have warned society about in our beloved country. It’s too bad no one was willing to listen.
