Real wives of Riyadh reject pretty maids

Results of a survey conducted by an Arabic daily newspaper: Saudi wives are refusing to allow housemaids from Morocco and Chile into their houses on the grounds they are too beautiful.

‘Sabq’ said it had spoken to many women in the world’s largest oil exporter following rumours that the government intends to open the door for hiring domestic workers from Morocco and Chile for the first time.

“Most of them said they reject this decision. Some of them said they do not want these maids because they are not as patient and hard working as maids from the Philippines, India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka,” the paper said.

“Others admitted that they refused to hire them as many Saudi families are already suffering because of pretty maids. They said they just do not want to suffer from the same problem on the grounds women from Morocco and Chile are beautiful.”

The paper quoted a domestic workers’ agent in the Kingdom as saying he had already been contacted by women asking him to ensure maids arriving from Morocco or Chile are not beautiful.

“We have started to face some funny situations since reports floated about an expected government decision to admit domestic workers from those two countries,” said Eid Abu Fahd, director of a maid hiring office in the Western Red Sea port of Jeddah.

“Some wives have already contacted us to say that if their husbands want maids from Chile or Morocco, they must first see the maids before accepting them. Their main condition was that these maids should not be pretty.”

Various Asian governments are at odds with Saudi Arabia over the ill-treatment and poor pay received by domestic workers who travel to the oil-rich kingdom. Indonesia and the Philippines have gone as far as barring their citizens from going to Saudi Arabia for work following reports of violence and even torture towards their domestic workers.