Asian Housemaids in the Middle East

I live and work in Oman, in the Middle East, and constantly read stories about Asian

housemaids and the hardships that accompany this particular occupation. This one takes the biscuit. Recently, a young housemaid had been arrested and sent to prison for asking permission to get married! Can you believe that? Well, it's true. A wedding proposal landed the teenage housemaid behind bars after she told her female employer she wanted to marry her suitor. The 19-year-old Asian maid asked her employer for permission to marry her Indian suitor - but let slip that she had allowed him into the house. Now that is a no-no according to Sharia law as it presupposes that the couple had sexual liaisons.

Her Bahraini madam (the housemaid's employer and sponsor) was furious and called the police and both the maid and her suitor, who is in his 30s, were arrested. This had been confirmed by a Public Prosecution spokesman in Manama, the Bahrain capital. He said the maid, described by her sponsor as a good worker, met the man while he was working at a cafe near the Manama home where she worked. She visited him whenever she had errands to do outside the house. But the maid was not satisfied with this limited relationship and wanted to be able to talk to the man more. This was pure innocence on the part of the 19-year-old.

Seemingly, she asked him to buy a mobile phone for her so that they could talk whenever they wanted to; surely nothing wrong with that. So the man agreed to buy her a phone and told her that he would meet her at her residence. He went to meet her at 2.30am on a Sunday morning and spent some time with her in her room. It later transpired that he told her that he was going to tell her sponsor that he wanted to marry her but she told him that it would be best if she spoke to her sponsor first. Wise thinking one would have thought.

The next day, the maid told her sponsor that she was in love with a man and wanted to marry him. She also added that she had let him into the house the night before, without the sponsor's permission not so wise thinking. The sponsor immediately reported the incident to the police, fearing that she would do the same thing again. The boyfriend had been charged with entering a residence without permission and the housemaid with helping him to do so. They were remanded in custody for seven days, the case went to court and she, the housemaid, was found guilty. She was imprisoned for three months and later deported. But did they have sex? This was never proved or even mentioned in court.

As you can see, the serious part of the incident was that she allowed her lover to enter her employer's house without permission, something her employer has every right to act against, but to actually imprison this young lady for wanting to get married? Rough justice; you'd better believe it! How could we possibly punish a maid for wanting to lead a normal life, especially after she did the right thing by actually asking for permission?

Domestic workers in the Middle East are here to serve as "helping" hands, but it seems as though they are doing so much work (and often, with so little pay) that they can't even get a distraction. Their work quite literally consumes 24 hours of their daily routine, for the many years that they remain employed within the same household. No outside relations, no interactions, not even a love life - what are they allowed to do other than slave themselves for the gains of their employers?

This was clearly a mistake on her part, and her employer has every right to be angry at this and to act against this, but prison is a bit too far. She is a teenager. An effective warning would've been more appropriate for the sake of her employers' safety and belongings. But no theft took place, or any violent/criminal action, so imprisoning her for wanting to lead a normal life is just taking it too far and is a clear violation of her basic human rights. Unfortunately, human rights violations are a part of life in this area of the world need I say more?

Asian Housemaids in the Middle East

By: Ian

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