Price tags in the Middleeastern cities have surged in sync with the skyscrapers in the last decade forcing expat women to step out of their apartments and take up jobs to support the growing family budget. This meant they could afford more spends on luxury goods, signing up for yoga or weigth loss classes, occasional leisure travel....and reasonable savings.
Families with babies and or school going children owes a big part of this wealth creation opportunity to a person who takes care of their children while they are at work - the Maid. With a lack of a social support system in the arab cities, a maid becomes a key resource in the economic equation of an expat family.
They come cheap and hence most families have one. Western expats live a dream with some families going for more than one maid to support the family chores (a expensive dream in their home country. So its just not the tax free haven that keeps them going.). Some local families have one for every child (guestimated average would be around at 4 kids per family). The couple, kids and their respective maids move around in malls like a NGO delegation atteding an UN conference on shoppping.
Last week my friend was at receiving end from his wife when he was late to pick her after work. Reason being they are late to reach home as the maid needs to leave for the day. For a moment he felt the maid had priority over him in his wife's check list. I told him that half of your monthly wealth creation starts and ends with the maid. (No) maid = (No) half wealth. He is good in maths, understands economics and has an MBA from IIM.
He is a happy man now. Leaves office on time.
2 comments:
Poor Joshi.....actually the life circle is really funny now a days...for the wife the most critical factor for happines is the maid...and for the husband the most critical factor for happiness is the Boss...the only link which connects the husband and wife is most of the time the cash transaction :-)
so true Biju! Recently there was a full double page article in The National about maids impacting the upbringing of local kids in Oman...the issue is same everywhere. Either the support system does not exist or exists but does not work. So, a choice has to be made between job, no-job, job with maid, job with relatives visiting from home to take care of your home, and the like...ufff! the choices we have to make and yet we don't know where we are going!!!
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