Friday March 29th, 2024
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Too Good Looking to be a Maid?

In Saudi Arabia, women are turning down maids based on their attractive looks...

Staff Writer

Ah, the joys of having household help. Imagine a life with no laundry, no dirty dishes, someone to look after the kids and never having to operate a hoover. Well, it seems that this is not the only thing that springs to mind when Saudi Arabian women hire maids; top of the list is in fact how good-looking they may be.

Many recruitment companies in Saudi Arabia claim that wives looking for help are requesting to see photographs of prospective staff so as to ensure that maids arriving from Morocco and Chile are not beautiful for fear that a pretty maid could cause marital rift. Eid Abu Fahd, director of one of the recruitment offices in Jeddah, says, “Some wives have already contacted us to say that if their husbands want maids from Chile or Morocco, they must first see the maids before accepting them”. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabic hiring help from abroad isn't exactly cheap costing up to $5,900 and can take 6 months.

It's no secret that conditions of household workers are not always favourable in Saudi, causing a huge black market to emerge where the trade of maids and drivers who have fled their previous employers is not uncommon, and last year saw countries such as Kenya suspend recruitment agencies as a result of cases of mistreatment whilst Indonesia is building up to stop Indonesian women from working abroad so as to preserve their dignity. With the difficulty surrounding hiring help from abroad it would seem that Saudi wives don't have much room to be picky but where looks would usually work in your favour, in Saudi Arabia women are turning down attractive maids.