Jezebel: domestic workers

Everything But The Kitchen Sink

Anna — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:10:00 EDT

[Jakarta, August 2. Image via Getty]

Women hold up kitchen cooking implements as they take part in a rally in Jakarta on August 2, 2009 demanding the Indonesian government to protect overseas maids and migrant workers from abuse. Indonesia recently imposed a ban on sending maids to work in Malaysia after a 43-year-old Malaysian woman was charged with causing grievous bodily harm by beating her Indonesian maid and scalding her with boiling water. Malaysian officials said last month an average of 50 maid abuse cases were reported each year out of 300,000 Indonesian maids working in the neighbouring southeast Asian country. AFP PHOTO / Bay ISMOYO (Photo credit should read BAY ISMOYO/AFP/Getty Images)

Worth A Thousand Words

Anna — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:10:00 EDT

[Hong Kong, June 25. Image via Getty]

A group of domestic helpers from the Asian Migrants Co-ordinating bod,y holdd a protest outside the government offices in Hong Kong on June 25, 2009. The group were asking the Executive Council of the Hong Kong Government to include them in statutory minimum wage legislation being drawn up in the territory. AFP PHOTO/MIKE CLARKE (Photo credit should read MIKE CLARKE/AFP/Getty Images)

Maid In Lebanon

Maria — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:45:00 EDT

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]