One of the most critical issues confronting the foreign labor force in Saudi Arabia is the phenomenon of so-called runaway maids. Published figures show that 89 percent of Saudi households have at least one maid which brings the total number of housemaids in the Kingdom, based on unconfirmed estimates, to over 1.5 million. Of these, more than 80 daily and more than 20,000 annually are said to run away from their employers. The business of hiring housemaids in Saudi Arabia costs annually around SR41 billion and about SR50 million is lost because of the maids who run away. Most of the maids who flee are from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. According to some estimates, 67 percent of the housemaids in Saudi Arabia are from Indonesia and 50 percent of them run away from their employers. Multifaceted factors contribute to the unpleasant issue of runaway domestic workers. From the perspective of the runaway maids, the work environment is completely inadequate and is characterized by overwork, mistreatment by family members, poor living conditions inside the sponsor's house, very low wages that are not paid on a regular basis or on time, and also sexual harassment which in some cases leads to the housemaids becoming pregnant. In sum, the housemaids say that when their basic human rights and dignity are denied, they have little choice but to run away. Saudi families or employers, on the other hand, maintain that they are the ones who have been treated inappropriately by their dishonest housemaids. Many have reported that their maids ran away within a few days of their arrival in the Kingdom. Others have said that their newly hired maid asked to be sent back home because the nature of the assigned job was not the kind of work she came all the way to the Kingdom to do. There are also cases of maids sneaking out and bringing men to their workplace. Then again, local families often complain that their maids are not well behaved, that they lack good manners, and tend to hurt or abuse family members, especially children.
They also speak of their frustration that hired maids are incapable of operating household appliances. They say that they have paid for and been promised a fully qualified housemaid; yet they get a village woman who has no idea how to use a telephone or electrical appliances, such as washing machines, vacuum cleaners, dishwashers, and the like. Families also contend that it is not accurate to say that maids run away because of ill treatment by their employers. In fact, they contend that maids run away due to their desire to work in lucrative illegal networks where they can be paid up to SR1,200 a month instead of SR800. These housemaids are lured into working for a sinister network involving other runaway housemaids because of their need to earn money to repay debts to recruitment agencies back home. This claim is supported by the recent announcement by the Center for Maids Affairs in the Ministry of Social Affairs that deals mainly with housemaids who have fled from their employers within two months of their arrival in the Kingdom. Thus, it seems that plans for running away were orchestrated in the housemaids' home countries where they were instructed to flee as soon as they arrive in the Kingdom to be able to work freelance and as such earn more money. Saudi citizens also play a part in this drama because some of them tend to look for runaway maids who are available for low salaries. Recruitment offices here and abroad are to be blamed as well. They are believed to be making a big profit out of runaway maids and thus are encouraging maids to flee from their sponsors. The Passport Department in Makkah has detained several maids who fled from their legitimate employers in various regions in the province during the Haj season. The detainees confessed to Passport Department officials that they came to Makkah after some brokers promised to help them perform Haj and then find them employment with better salaries. The problem is also compounded by the absence of rules to deny households that mistreat maids the right to employ them. The Passport Department should first instruct recruitment agencies (there are about 400 in the Kingdom) to conduct short training sessions and workshops for domestic workers who are about to be hired. In these sessions housemaids can learn about our customs, their rights and responsibilities and, most important, the consequences of running away from their potential employers. All domestic workers should be registered on a database so that housemaids who want to come and work in the Kingdom can be traced in case they run away or leave the country. We should also launch a national campaign to inform the public of the danger and consequences of hiring runaway maids. The fine for harboring such maids should be more than SR5,000. Employers who mistreat their housemaids should be severely punished. Runaway maids too should be held accountable for their actions. If nothing is done, then employers will feel victimized and will continue to break the rules even as maids do the same simply because they do not expect to be punished when they are caught running away. Only effective measures will put an end to this fast growing phenomenon.
– The writer is a Saudi academic who can be reached at [email protected]
