Gen's

Should domestic workers be treated like one of our family members?


Hi, this is Genevieve and today I’m going to talk to you about whether domestic workers should be treated as part of
our family.


As we all know, domestic workers are ‘workers’. They’re here to earn a living. So, should we treat them as part of our
family, or should we treat them like workers.


Lets take a look at the difference:

If you treat someone as part of the family, you give her love, caring and understanding. But if you treat someone like a
worker, then there is no love and no care. All they have to do is just to complete their job and their done.


But it is difficult to decide whether to treat your domestic worker as part of the family or just a worker. Why? Because
well, firstly, you don’t know them well unless they’ve been working for you for a long period. When you don’t
understand someone, you won’t trust her. In this case, how do you take her in as part of the family?


However, a domestic worker is also human. She is also someone who needs love, care and understanding. They have
emotions and they have feelings. That for sure, we can provide as an employer but it is whether we are willing or not.


So back to the question, ‘should domestic workers be treated like one of our family members?’


In my opinion, yes they should be. Although trust is a big thing and accepting someone as a family member is also a
big thing, but think about it, how would you feel if you were to be in the domestic worker’s shoes? Being treated coldly.
Everyday, you live in a house, do all the work and sleep in that small room or yours and eat leftovers. Some of them
might not even have off days. How would you feel?


Now things would be different if they’re “part of the family”. They get to go out with the family, have dinner together
and not eat leftovers, get to go shopping, etc. Then you can say they work in a much better environment compared to
the last. If they’re working in an environment they like, gradually, the employer and the domestic worker will bond and
form a stronger relationship.


Ultimately, these domestic workers are the ones who made some of our hectic lives more relaxing, make our home a
cleaner and better environment, and even in some cases, take good care of the children. Shouldn’t their hard work pay
off?


I mean, why don’t you think. Would you rather have your domestic worker as your friend or family or would you rather
have a stranger in your house to do the chores?


I know that a maid is a maid, but they have no choice but to come over here to earn money to support their families. So
why not give then a good impression and give them a good environment to work in? All you have to do is to accept
them as part of your family. It’s that simple.


What if one day we switch lives and we’re the ones going over there to work as domestic workers? Would you like them
to treat you as part of the family? Or just a worker?

I had an interview with Lavanya, my classmate on her views and here’s what she has to say:


“Well for me, I think that maids should be considered as part of the family. Well you see, I mean I had a maid, okay we don’t even call her a maid. She’s my aunt. And she was with us for about 10 years. Like for a person to be in your house for 10 years and you not treating them your family member is a bit weird. Its like oh, you’re with me in my house, you’re working for me but I still treat you like a stranger for over 10 years? Don’t you think like in 10 years you would have actually gone through a lot with them? Like, I don’t know, the events you have at home, umm, how you guys work together to work the day out or how you give instructions or how you guys have to fight over, you know your maid doesn’t understand what you’re trying to talk about. It’s all a learning thing. I mean I think, a lot of people give this identity, like a sub identity, not really a stranger but not entirely a family member but somewhere in between. But look at this, I mean, for example, if your aunt, I mean your immediate aunt were to come and take care of you, would you treat her like that? Would you treat her as insignificant? Not really insignificant but more of a stranger? I think the many things of why people think, er why people regard maids as umm, not a family member is because of how they’re related to them. I think if your actual aunt was there, you’ll probably treat her better because she blood related to you. So I think people should not use that. I mean how a maid can be helpful to you in many many ways. She’s there for your kids when you’re not, and she gives then what they need when you cant. And my mum till now has been very grateful to my aunt and seriously, my sister is even more closer to her than my mum. So this is why you should never never never treat them as a stranger or somewhere in between just because they’re not related to you but you should see the depth of it all.”


So that was Lavanya and I hope you got my point, accept your maid as a family member. Thank you!