Mariaam Bhatti: Tales of a Domestic Worker
As many of us could already guess, the International Labour Organization estimates that right now many millions of people are on the move across the globe in search of work. Driven by poverty and insecurity in their home countries, many are not just looking for better work but any work.
Since women in developing countries began exercising their freedom to move from village to village or city to city, we have also been able to move from country to country and continent to continent, with dreams and hopes for a better life for ourselves and our children.
Though the number of women in the workforce in general is considered small compared to that of men, it is certainly getting better compared to the previous century. Even so, much of this employment is in domestic work roles, often passed to women from disadvantaged backgrounds and countries. It’s for this reason that I don’t understand why work permits for domestic workers were ceased in Ireland since 2007, the UK in April 2012, and in many other so-called developed countries.
I’ve been thinking more about this as we near the end of the year, and I notice more and more adverts going round for au pairs, nannies and childminders for January, when children return to school after the Christmas break. Moreover, I met women from the European Network of Migrant Women from Greece, who spoke at a conference on poverty in Europe that I attended at the end of November in Brussels. What they shared was not news to me, and I remember asking myself: ‘When is this really going to end? It’s almost the same in every country!’
What struck me in particular, though, was a statistic the women from Greece shared: in their country as well as in Cyprus, migrant domestic workers – who make up to 51 per cent of their domestic workforce – can work as many as 15 years without being considered for citizenship and with little or no access to rights.
On hearing this I thought, while there is no competition here on who treats their migrant workers worse and despite our challenges in Ireland, I am proud of the progress this country is making. Even so, I still have concerns over different paths that people are taking to bring in domestic workers into the country, or to employ those already in the country and in vulnerable situations.
The Government sees no need for work permits for domestic workers currently, but considering the soaring cost of childcare in Ireland it is crystal clear, at least to me, that more and more people will try to find cheap forms of childcare by whatever means. Of course not every employer is waiting idle to exploit this situation, but many have done so. I, for example was brought into Ireland after the work permit system had been stopped, so what will prevent people like my former exploitative employer from doing it again in future?
n On a different note, bearing in mind that we are now a few days after the 16 Days of Action Opposing Violence Against Women, which fell between 25 November and 10 December, I dedicate this column to all women who have lost their lives in the hands of their employers behind closed doors. Some to this day have no headstones on their graves; they are still invisible even after death.
I also dedicate this column to those domestic workers who will be working over the Christmas festive season; despite their demeaning circumstances, they are warriors and are able to feed their families in their home countries during this busy season.
Mariaam Bhatti is a member of the Domestic Workers Action Group and Forced Labour Action Group of the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland.
