Employees, not slaves
The sahib ka beta lives in the lap of luxury while the child hired to take care of him starves
PHOTO: YUSRA ASKARI
I recently read a book called Whispering Hope: The True Story of the Magdalene Women. It’s a story of five Irish women who were sent in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s to work in laundries run by religious institutes. The original aim of these laundries was to help former prostitutes by giving them paying work. Later, the laundries started taking in other women— unwed mothers and unwanted girls. As time went by, these laundries became increasingly prison-like, with the women being forced to work long, back-breaking hours for next to no money in return.
The book left a very powerful but disturbing impact on my mind. I kept drawing parallels between these courageous but extremely badly treated women and the domestic help that people hire in Pakistan. In simple terms, the way we treat our staff is disgusting. There was a picture posted on Facebook recently showing a family in a restaurant enjoying their meal while their young maid was forced to sit separately on a chair facing a wall. That picture attracted many horrified comments. But the truth is that many of the readers of this newspaper will have someone under the age of 16 working for them. Kids who should be in school are caring for their employer’s school-going kids and picking up after them. The sahib ka beta lives in the lap of luxury while the hired child basically starves and gets hit by everyone in that household.
Image of mistreatment of maids in Karachi restaurant goes viral
I don’t understand this attitude. When we meet a complete stranger we are on our best behaviour. And yet we treat the people who care for our home, our kids and us, like garbage. The example I often give is that we take out the best cutlery and crockery for our guests and even wear special clothes. However, when it’s dinnertime at home with the family, no one even bothers to wash their face. But why wouldn’t you take care of those who take care of you? Hiring an army of people to run your home has always been a status symbol in Pakistan. But shouldn’t providing for their basic needs be part of the package as well? I hear people screaming about how their driver or their maid was stinking. Well, it’s not exactly cheap to buy a deodorant when you earn only Rs13,000 and have an entire family to support.
A few days ago, someone was commenting on how domestic staff is just not the same as when our grandparents were alive. Of course they aren’t! When our grandparents hired people to work for them, that person’s whole family, medical expenses and all incidentals became the responsibility of the employer. Nowadays, if someone’s mother is sick or their child needs a school uniform, the employer screams and humiliates their employee for daring to ask for more money or, God forbid, a day off. But if your child deserves the best of the best, don’t the children of your domestic staff also deserve some care?
Against child labour: World’s third largest underage workforce in Pakistan
Months ago, I visited a family friend’s house for lunch. She was being extremely rude while speaking to her maid. The maid spilt a jug of water because she was obviously jittery and nervous from the constant nagging and abuse. My host jumped at her maid and started shaking her. I pulled them apart and asked her what she was doing? If she didn’t want to employ the woman, she should just ask her to leave. But why was she torturing her. She just glared at me and said she had bought this woman from her family for the next five years. How the hell do you buy a human being in this day and age? Obviously I haven’t seen this woman since that day. And I did report her to an NGO that deals with such cases. I know that these problems have always existed here but my perceptions changed only when I went to Canada to study and realised it is no one’s birthright to bully, abuse or hit another person.
Off to school : Campaign to end child labour at kilns kicks off
If we want to end abuse of domestic staff in Pakistan, all of us will have to get involved. Report people who hire child labourers, abuse their domestic staff and pay below the minimum wage. It’s human nature to behave properly when you know you will be held accountable for your actions. No more slave-driving!
Published in The Express Tribune, November 9th, 2015.
The book left a very powerful but disturbing impact on my mind. I kept drawing parallels between these courageous but extremely badly treated women and the domestic help that people hire in Pakistan. In simple terms, the way we treat our staff is disgusting. There was a picture posted on Facebook recently showing a family in a restaurant enjoying their meal while their young maid was forced to sit separately on a chair facing a wall. That picture attracted many horrified comments. But the truth is that many of the readers of this newspaper will have someone under the age of 16 working for them. Kids who should be in school are caring for their employer’s school-going kids and picking up after them. The sahib ka beta lives in the lap of luxury while the hired child basically starves and gets hit by everyone in that household.
Image of mistreatment of maids in Karachi restaurant goes viral
I don’t understand this attitude. When we meet a complete stranger we are on our best behaviour. And yet we treat the people who care for our home, our kids and us, like garbage. The example I often give is that we take out the best cutlery and crockery for our guests and even wear special clothes. However, when it’s dinnertime at home with the family, no one even bothers to wash their face. But why wouldn’t you take care of those who take care of you? Hiring an army of people to run your home has always been a status symbol in Pakistan. But shouldn’t providing for their basic needs be part of the package as well? I hear people screaming about how their driver or their maid was stinking. Well, it’s not exactly cheap to buy a deodorant when you earn only Rs13,000 and have an entire family to support.
A few days ago, someone was commenting on how domestic staff is just not the same as when our grandparents were alive. Of course they aren’t! When our grandparents hired people to work for them, that person’s whole family, medical expenses and all incidentals became the responsibility of the employer. Nowadays, if someone’s mother is sick or their child needs a school uniform, the employer screams and humiliates their employee for daring to ask for more money or, God forbid, a day off. But if your child deserves the best of the best, don’t the children of your domestic staff also deserve some care?
Against child labour: World’s third largest underage workforce in Pakistan
Months ago, I visited a family friend’s house for lunch. She was being extremely rude while speaking to her maid. The maid spilt a jug of water because she was obviously jittery and nervous from the constant nagging and abuse. My host jumped at her maid and started shaking her. I pulled them apart and asked her what she was doing? If she didn’t want to employ the woman, she should just ask her to leave. But why was she torturing her. She just glared at me and said she had bought this woman from her family for the next five years. How the hell do you buy a human being in this day and age? Obviously I haven’t seen this woman since that day. And I did report her to an NGO that deals with such cases. I know that these problems have always existed here but my perceptions changed only when I went to Canada to study and realised it is no one’s birthright to bully, abuse or hit another person.
Off to school : Campaign to end child labour at kilns kicks off
If we want to end abuse of domestic staff in Pakistan, all of us will have to get involved. Report people who hire child labourers, abuse their domestic staff and pay below the minimum wage. It’s human nature to behave properly when you know you will be held accountable for your actions. No more slave-driving!
Published in The Express Tribune, November 9th, 2015.