CAIRO: Salma is a recent university graduate who, like many in her position, had been looking for a suitable job since her graduation two years ago from the Faculty of Commerce.
Because her father is a bawab, the best-paying and most convenient opportunity that offered itself was a full-time position taking care of an elderly woman living at the building guarded by her father for a handsome salary of LE 700.
However satisfactory the salary, Salma prefers to keep the matter secret for fear she would be stigmatized in a community where to be employed as a maid or a housekeeper continues to be a big shame.
The problem still holds even when unemployment prevails and jobs involving maids, gatemen, nannies and cleaners are better paying than some of the minor government jobs and others in private companies.
“What can you say about it? said Karima Abdel Hamid, a teacher. “I offered one LE 600 to cook the meals everyday and clean the house only once a week. She turned it down and went to work at a factory for LE 300 so that she wouldn’t be called a maid.
Gradually, some slight change is materializing in the way this category of workers is being viewed. Employers are no longer content to bring any simple villager to take care of the most private of their affairs. Now many particularly insist on having educated maids.
Superficially, this might appear to be a simple stipulation, judging by the large number of jobless university and commercial school graduates. But the social stigma associated with the issue, in addition to the absence of a capable official organization to streamline such types of employment, are making the availability of those workers a true rarity.
For years people got maids through acquaintances, friends or special offices that operate as mediators between the maids and families for a certain commission. Myriad such offices continue to operate side-by-side with Gameyat El Tahrur El Ektisadi, an agency set up by the Ministry of Social Affairs to help young girls achieve their independence by providing them with housekeeping jobs.
Privately-owned, the special offices are said to be operating under the umbrella of the ministry, but many of them are notorious for all types of illegal activities ranging from prostitution to theft – all of which reinforce the stigma associated with maids and discourage people from using their services.
Meanwhile, experts believe that El Tahrur Society’s scope is limited and should be expanded. Upon contacting the society, Daily News Egypt learnt that the jobs provided are only subject to an oral agreement and none of the parties is required to abide by any conditions if the situation doesn’t prove propitious for any of them.
But neither is the Ministry of Manpower and Emigration believed to be a haven for women seeking such jobs. Those who fill out an application at the ministry might be given the next available position, be it a domestic helper, a factory worker or an office girl.
The same ministry has washed its hands off any maid-related business after its decision to send some Egyptian women to work as domestic helpers in Saudi Arabia was called off following countrywide public outrage.
“The right initiative should start with community services to recruit job-seekers belonging to each and every locality in question, suggested Mona Hamdy, a housewife.
“In this case the recruitment searches will be carried out by people from the same neighborhood or district, which would decrease the worries linked with employing people who are totally alien to the area, added Hamdy.
“I think this is a brilliant idea, said Saadiya Makawy, another housewife. “It is likely to close the gap that usually exists, for example, between country workers and their employers living in the city. There will be no culture shock since the maids brought from the same locality will be familiar with our manners and habits, added Makawy.
“I really think the efforts of official bodies like the Ministry of Social Solidarity or Manpower should be directed towards the local market rather than to exporting this kind of labor to the Gulf, she continued.
“It is good to start with community services but we are in need of an entire system to streamline the issue while attempting to reverse the negative image that has accumulated over the years of domestic helpers of all kinds, says Azza Kurraim, sociologist at the National Center for Social and Criminal Research in Cairo.
“Efforts should begin by launching an intensive media campaign to spread awareness about the role those domestic helpers are playing in a modern society burdened by problems like the high demand for working women, the absence of social solidarity and the increase in the number of elderly people and children, explained the specialist.
Kurraim pointed out that the ministries of labor and social solidarity as well as community services should join hands to lay down a watertight system or strategy to track down the job-seekers and regulate questions like contracts, duties, working hours and conditions.
She lauded the idea of the community services, provided their offices are accountable to the ministry of labor or social solidarity, so that the laws regulating the employment are stipulated and enforced.
So how does this sound in theory?
“It’s a good idea, said Salma. “It could actually reduce the suffering of many young girls who seek the help of those ill-reputed offices to get the job of a domestic helper.
She added: “Forget about the stigma of working as a maid. Many are ready now to do any job for a respectable wage. But the problem is that the employers don’t know how to gain access to those fresh graduates. They definitely need the mediation of a trustworthy organization to reduce the evils associated with this category of jobs.
“This would certainly improve the fortunes of someone like me as well, answered Ahmed Gamil, a Cairo-based bawab from Sharqia.
“Although I am educated, I am paid no more than LE 300 a month; people don’t understand what it means to have an educated bawab. I am not an illiterate [ghafir] – a country guard who could be totally unaware of the importance of a registered letter or a warning from court. I know how to act in emergencies like fire, lift faults etc.
Hussein Abu Amer, 55, a foreman, and Abdel Wahid Mahmud, 60, a waiter, are concerned that foul play might rear its head once the scheme is implemented.
There would be no guarantee that the administration in charge of the mediation would be unbiased enough to refer job-seekers to exactly where they were needed, argued both men.
“How can you be sure they wouldn’t place their acquaintances, next-of-kin or those who pay them on top of the list? asked Abu Amer. “How could you be positive that both parties will abide by the conditions stipulated in the contract?
“Employers and employees are not free of faulty behavior that would spoil it for both sides. The employer would ask the maid, for example, to do the housework, take care of the children, and run errands. No job specifications.
“In return sometimes the employees would demand more than their dues. They would even do that on and off even when you don’t assign them extra duties, he continued.
The issue of domestic helpers continues to be complex in spite of the dire need for them.
For those who are desperate to earn a living nothing is as easy as filling out an application at the Ministry of Manpower and Emigration or at one of the private offices.
Those who are looking for their services could be sincere – or simply playing games. It’s a precarious situation.
