By Laila Azzeh
AMMAN – Often invisible to the eyes of the public or the law, many domestic helpers still face hardship when working in Jordanian households, having their wages withheld or falling victim to abuse, a recent study suggests.
A survey conducted by the Adaleh Centre for Human Rights Studies found that domestic helpers who flee their employers – numbering some 3,500 over the past five years, according to interior ministry figures – do so primarily because of unpaid salaries and overwork, while a significant proportion of them suffered physical, emotional and sexual abuse.
“The number of legal domestic helpers is estimated at 49,000 according to the labour ministry, while the number of those who did not obtain work permits and residencies is 20,000,” Hussein Omari, director of the centre’s legal aid unit, said at a press conference held on Saturday to announce the results of the survey, which sought to find the reasons why these workers are running away from their employers in such great numbers.
However, he added, the labour ministry does not have figures on the number of escaped helpers and their nationalities, although it is in charge of keeping track of these workers and their disputes.
The survey was conducted through questionnaires handed to a random sample of 106 Philippine, Indonesian and Sri Lankan domestic helpers who escaped from their employers’ households in addition to 56 business owners who employed domestic helpers, 14 helpers still working legally in their employers’ houses, 14 officials from the Indonesian and the Philippine embassies, and 10 owners of recruitment agencies.
The study showed that 48 per cent of the domestic workers who left their employers did not receive their wages on time and were paid less than they had agreed.
The workers also cited overwork, long hours and being forced to take on too many responsibilities, particularly in households with children, elderly people, or people with disabilities, as among the main reasons they chose to flee.
Omari said that 47 per cent said exhaustion and the inability to take breaks or days off compelled them to flee their employers’ houses.
The interviewed sample also cited sexual, physical and psychological abuse as motives behind the decision to flee the workplace. According to the study, 12 per cent of the interviewees alleged they were corporally punished, while 5 per cent claimed they were sexually abused or harassed.
The study also indicated that 95 per cent of the workers do not have any personal identification because the documents were held by their employers or recruitment agencies once they arrive in Jordan.
“These documents are usually taken from them on the pretext that they are the only guarantee to ensure that helpers stay at their employers’ houses and not go back to their country. They should know that if the helper wants to escape, nothing would stop her even if it means jumping from the fourth floor,” Omari said, “let alone that seizing the passport of any person is illegal”.
Note by the editor: The figure of domestic servants who escaped from employers is much higher than mentioned in this report. The treatment of these persons is a shame to the whole Middle East, not only Jordan. Do they not know the Hadith of the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be on him) who said: “Pay your workers salary before their sweat is dry”!)
Categories: Asia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates
My maid was paid above average, had little work (small family to look after), good accommodation (her own nice ‘guest room’), was paid on time (even got additional payment when there was a flood ‘back home’), not abuse … and still run away (broke her contract). There are other reasons, therefore. Illegal work pays more, as the ‘illegal employer’ does not pay work permits, tickets, agency fees etc.