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According to news reports out of Saudi Arabia, Saudi women are outraged that the government plans to allow Moroccan maids into the country to replace Filipina and Indonesian women, out of the belief that Moroccan women will seduce their husbands. Oh, by the way: There's a vacuum in the Saudi domestic market in response to brutal human rights abuses of maids, including beheadings. More »
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Whatever you think about The Help, at least it's sparked a larger conversation about domestic workers' lives — and maybe even their rights. More »
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Oscar winner Hattie McDaniel famously said she would rather get paid $700 a week for playing a maid than $7 for being one, after civil rights groups criticized the portrayal of black characters in Gone With The Wind. Seventy years later, The Help and Viola Davis are enmeshed in a similar controversy. More »
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Within a few weeks, thanks to their own organizing efforts, domestic workers in New York State will be the first nationally to get basic employment rights such as "overtime pay, paid leave and protection from workplace discrimination." California may follow. More »
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What do at-home caregivers and executive assistants have in common? They toil, often on the sidelines, know the intimate details of their employers' lives — and are usually women. More »
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Actress Lupe Ontiveros has played a maid more than 150 times. "I'd get parts if I spoke the way they wanted me to speak," she says. "I did it because it was an investment in my career." More »
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According to a Human Rights Watch report released yesterday, foreign maids in Lebanon have been dying at a rate of more than one a week. Since January 2007, at least 95 foreign maids have died from either suicide, falling from high buildings while trying to escape their employers, or health issues (we're guessing that they don't have healthcare). Interviews with the embassies and friends of those who committed suicide reveal that they were unhappy due to forced confinement and excessive work demands; according to another report, nearly 1/3 of foreign maids in the country are not allowed to leave the homes in which they work. [HRW via NYT] More »
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