Abstract
This report is a discussion on the growing need of domestic workers in the UAE and the effect, which domestic workers have in the home. It looks at the percentage of housemaid involvement in the affairs of a home and the apparent impossibility of living without their help. It has a major focus on housemaids as the people directly involved with taking care of the homes affairs. It looks at the benefits a home enjoys by employing housemaids and how some housemaids can wreck a family. On the same note, the report also focuses on the growing need for house helps, and the means by which people can manage the issues that surround them with their house helps in the home. With a belief of the good and the bad surrounding the domestic employment arena, and the bulk of responsibility vested on house helps, the report looks at possible means of reconciling the employers and the domestic workers in their homes. There is also a focus on the future of the housemaids’ employment sector with the unanimous finding of continued growth expectations. This comes because of the rising need of housemaids in the growing population and the growing responsibilities of house owners leaving no time for house keeping.
1.0. Introduction
The essay is in five parts, the UAE population has become inclined to the use of domestic workers and most especially housemaids. It is an apparent that every UAE home feels the need of having a house maid in the home. The essay will first look at those people who depend on housemaids to take care of their household needs. The UAE is the major dependant on the services provided by housemaids worldwide. Secondly, it will evaluate the advantages of having a housemaid in the home after which there will also be an overview of the disadvantages of having a housemaid in the home. It will then look at the processes of hiring housemaids as domestic workers. At the end of the article, there will be a synopsis on the future of using house maids in the homes. The paper will then conclude by stating the fact that domestic workers and especially housemaids make part of the home setup, which cannot be avoided at any costs to keep the home running smoothly.
2.0. Literature Review
2.1. People dependant on housemaids
In the UAE, housemaids make the biggest percentage of the domestic workers. Every home faces the need of hiring a housemaid, and it becomes very hard not to find a housemaid in an emirate family. The approach of excellence in UAE families and the ever rising population make the need for house helps to be one that cannot be ignored for the smooth running of the family. Those families with huge numbers of guests that visit the home and very limited time to entertain them remain to the services of housemaids.
2.2. Advantages of house maids
There are a number of benefits and advantages that a family having housemaids in the home benefit from the most obvious thing is that the family manages to have family chores and responsibilities performed on their behalf without unnecessary hassles. Given the rising employment levels in the UAE, the need for housemaids’ remains inevitable to each of these homes. The UAE families own very big houses that remain challengingly hard to maintain by themselves. Housemaids are needed for the housekeeping needs in the home and most especially to take care of the children when their parents are out at work.
The housemaids help with the cleaning of the home and maintaining good hygiene around the home. Also, given the fact that housemaids come from foreign countries, they become an essential training tool to the UAE children. The children get the opportunity of being introduced to English as a communication skill through the housemaids in their homes. Another major advantage of having housemaids in the home is the opportunity of saving time that would have otherwise been spent on handling household tasks. Employers find time to invest on other activities of ore importance than staying at home to do cleaning, washing and changing diapers. On a positive end, having a housemaid in the home is an extension of help to a needy person. Most of the housemaids are people in need of employment and offering an opportunity for employing them is one step in giving them the chance of working and earning for themselves and their families back at home.
2.3.Disadvantages of house maids
The first disadvantage is the bridge which the housemaid creates between the child and the parent. A child raised in a household having a housemaid faces the challenge of the absence of the parents because housemaids are left with the responsibility of tending to all the needs of the child. The time which children spend with the housemaids also make them to be so attached to them than to their parents. This impact very negatively in the relationship between children and their parents given that the person they eventually incline to is a stranger. In previous researches, the role of parents in the development of their children remains crucial though wanting in most societies (Christie, Johnson, & Wardle, 2005).There is also the case of torturing children by housemaids. Some housemaids reportedly abuse children in various ways in the absence of their parents and this make the children to live in a very horrifying circumstance that affects their adult lives in the long run. Past researches show that housemaids go to an extent of sexually abusing children and that impacts so negatively on their development and bring occasions of trauma (Gamburd, 2002).
The presence of housemaids in the house also leads to a lack of privacy in the home. Not all housemaids are honest and having the stranger in the home becomes a scary thought as it is not easy to keep family secrets. Housemaids have the tendency of going out to tell about the things happening in homes where they stay, and that jeopardize privacy of family matters. Theft and murder in homes with housemaids is also becoming a daily report. These occur for a number of reasons such as the need for revenge, family dispute, and others. House maids also come into the homes with multiple immoral practices like the dressing style, which affect the dressing styles of the children they look after and on some occasions embarrass their employers. The housemaids also have the opportunity of inviting intruders into the homes of their employers, even without permission and this is a very dangerous thing in the current world since the their guests are strangers both to them and to their employers. From research, there are reports that the living systems in most of the UAE countries have no private quarters for their maids that would allow for their invitation of guests into their wings without interference with employers (Faier & Torstrick, 2009).
2.4. Hiring processes of house maids
The statistics of domestic workers in the UAE is highest in Abu Dhabi. There is over 268,000 domestic workers employed in the country. In Abu Dhabi, the domestic workers make about six percent of Abu Dhabi’s population with a number of 120, 000 domestic workers. The Philippines and Indonesians constitute the highest percentage of domestic workers making an 80% average of the total number hired in the UAE. Spending of three billion dollars is reported to be going to the domestic workers sector most of them housemaids.
2.5. The future of housemaids
The need for domestic workers is one that keeps rising and in 2007, over 83,600 visas were issued for the domestic workers into the country. This number is almost a double configuration to that of Saudi Arabia which was initially taken to be the highest employer of domestic workers. With these statistics and report, it remains a fact that there are still openings for hiring more housemaids into the country. The population of domestic workers in the UAE comprises a total of 5% showing the rate in which demand for housemaids stand (Youssef, 2007).
3.0. Discussion and Finding
During this research, it became clear that there are positive and negative implications in the engagement of housemaids. This prompts the necessity for creating rules that regulate the home in terms of behavior right from the beginning to avoid later conflicts. By making sure that the housemaid is as comfortable as possible in the home, one provides room for enjoying the benefits that offer to the home without any fear. There are rules and regulations that the government has put in place for the hiring of domestic workers. These are efforts to keep the sponsorship of domestic workers regulated by allowing only families to sponsor domestic workers and other measures like for visas (AngloInfo, 2011).
4.0. Conclusion
In summing up, it is obvious that house maids are needed for the many advantages they give to the homes. They help with house work, take care of children and keep homes making them to be a crucial part of the household. It is just fundamental to maintain good rapport and friendliness with the house maids, to avoid the negative implications of revenge they may cause to homes on occasions when they face mistreatment from their employers. This takes into account the need for effective handling of cases of promiscuity reported on previous researches (Gamburd, 2002). It is however important not to be blinded into fully trusting them and just be cautious with personal items and private issues in the homes.
References
Abu Dhabi information. (2006). Abu Dhabi Maids: House Maids in UAE information. Retrieved from, http://www.alloexpat.com/middle_east_expat_forum/abu-dhabi-maids-house maids-inuae-information-t1710.html. 13th Dec, 2011.
AngloInfo. (2011). Employing Domestic Workers in Dubai. Retrieved from, http://dubai.angloinfo.com/countries/uae/dubai/domestic.asp. 13th Dec, 2011.
Christie F. James, Johnson Ewald James, & Wardle Francis. (2005). Play, development, and early education. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon. Print.
Faier, E. & Torstrick, R.L. (2009). Culture and customs of the Arab Gulf States. Culture and customs of the Middle East. New York: ABC-CLIO. Print.
Gamburd, M. R. (2002). Transnationalism and Sri Lanka’s migrant housemaids: the kitchenspoon’s handle. Munich: Vistaar Publications. Print.
Youssef, M. (2007). Domestic workers form 5% of UAE’s population. Retrieved from, http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/employment/domestic-workers-form-5-of-uae-s population-1.131364. 13th Dec, 2011.
