Varia says that because domestic workers in Saudi Arabia are not protected by labor laws, they don't have access to training, paid leave, reasonable hours or even one day off.
"They're not seen as real human beings," she says.
"It is socially accepted to lock your domestic worker inside the house. There are employers who forbid their workers to make phone calls home or write letters or talk to neighbors," says Varia, who interviewed domestic workers' employers in Saudi Arabia. "The reason they give is that, 'We paid a lot of money for this worker, and if I leave the door unlocked, she'll run away.'"
The problem is so severe that the embassies of Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Philippines in Saudi Arabia can have as many as 150 women staying in embassy shelters because of abuse suffered at the hand of their employer, says Varia
Another Reason Why Saudi Arabia is A Problem
It is so good to see that our allies are so good to their own people and to those who work for them. The following is from a story about a domestic worker who has been sentenced to death.
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It's no secret that slavery is still practiced in the Islamic world.
The last Arab slave ship to be stopped on the high seas was in the mid-sixties. It's no wonder that the Saudis are still living in the middle ages.
Hey now, it's their culture and we have no right to impose our corrupt Western values on them.
That wouldn't be very tolerant, would it??
Michael,
Oil buys a lot of things. It is really pretty disgusting.
Mark,
It reminds me of a column Mark Steyn wrote
"In a more culturally confident age, the British in India were faced with the practice of "suttee" - the tradition of burning widows on the funeral pyres of their husbands. Gen. Sir Charles Napier was impeccably multicultural:
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: When men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks, and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."
Carl,
Fun stuff, isn't it.
We have that problem in the states too. It is not widely publicized, but, it's here. 2 Filipino women made the news 3 months ago in Cali. for enslaving the "help" they brought form overseas.
Young girls and boys and women are trafficked here, it's underground, but, it's here. Prostitutes are prosecuted worse than Pimps (who turn them out as children). A girl under the age of consent can be prosecuted for prostitution.
Let's not forget, it has only been approx 60 yr.s since extreme segregation in our racist nation.
Let's not forget
our own many and varied issues at home.
Let's be careful throwing stones.
GT
carl r
you sound like a racist or ethnicist (is that word?)
GT,
I don't know what nation you are living in, but calling the US a racist nation is patently false and a complete distortion of reality.
Racial issues still exist, but not to the extent that people are unable to succeed because of their color.
And yes the US has had problems with treatment of domestic workers, but they are limited.
I hope that you are not serious in trying to compare the US to Saudi Arabia because they are not even in the same ballpark.
I'm saying be careful throwing stones and judging a culture and all it's people based on one aspect of it.
I'm saying there is plenty of racism in this country, though you may not experience it personally.
I'm saying this,
"Aren't these the same people who invented airline hijackings and suicide bombings?"
sounds like the statement of a bigot.
that would be like dismissing Americans as "those people who set fire to temples ...burn crosses on lawns...tie homosexual young men to posts and beat them to death, use the sexual histpry of a rape survivor to dismiss cases, etc."
these are all actions that have taken place in the last year, yet, do not define our culture or the majority of our citizens.
I'm saying be careful throwing stones and judging a culture and all it's people based on one aspect of it.
That is a general statement that isn't based upon fact. It feels good but it lacks substance.
I'm saying there is plenty of racism in this country, though you may not experience it personally.
And I am calling that load of crap. There has never been a time in our history where there was more opportunity for people.
The Democrats two leading candidates are a Black man and a woman.
The mayor of the second largest city in the US is Latino. The Sec of State is a Black woman.
The Gov of New Mexico is Latino.
The CEO of Time Warner is a Black man.
Those are examples that come off the top of my head, no research involved. But if I did research this issue I could bury us in statistics that prove my point.
There may be racism, but the country as a whole is not racist.
And especially when you compare the US to a monarchy in which women are second class citizens. A country that is a proven sponsor of terror.
A country whose Religious Police were found culpable in the deaths of school girls. During a fire they intentionally and physically obstructed the evacuation process of the school girls.
The bottom line is that you can't bring up these kinds of false accusations without providing factual support for them.
To add to Jack's point, if someone is mistreating their "help" in this country, it is considered a crime and they are vigorously prosecuted. A far cry from a country in which mistreatment of domestic workers is institutionalized and they don't have any legal rights at all.
I'm saying be careful throwing stones and judging a culture and all it's people based on one aspect of it.
Okay, here's a few other aspects of Arab/Muslim culture:
Support of terrorism
Honour killings
Suppression of free speech and the media
Denigration of women
Encouraging children to aspire to suicide bombing.
Racism
Anti-Semitism
Imposing Sharia
Beheading hostages on film and distributing it to the world's media
Shall I continue?
Thank god for the Arabs' multi-faceted and fascinating culture.
Ellie,
Well said.
Mark,
I hear you.
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