Exploiting People

I wonder how many families employ live-in domestic workers and how the figures compare to other countries. I think Jordan would surpass much of the world, which is amazing when you think that one third of the population lives below the poverty line and there is high unemployment. Yet Jordanians are able to ‘import’ workers from poorer nations. I shuddered when I looked at the photo in the Jordan Times the other day of the large number of Indonesian women crowded dismally in their embassy because of ‘irregularities’ and the probability that they entered the country with falsified health certificates. They looked pathetic and lost. Unfortunately most of us don’t think about this aspect of life in Jordan unless the newspapers expose a case of abuse or a worker commits suicide. I believe that their own countrymen and Jordan’s unique regulations affecting foreign laborers have exploited these women. Above all they are victims of unscrupulous people who are able to make money from women who are less valued members of their own societies. What a sad state of affairs.

ASH