by NADIM KAWACH
A few weeks after uniting against a long-standing ban on female car driving, Saudi women are again joining hands in another common cause—this time against the recruitment of housemaids from Morocco. Their excuse is that Moroccan women are beautiful and could snatch their husbands off them.
While the campaign against the driving ban came too late, their reaction to government plans to import Moroccan maids was too swift and decisive.
The Shura council (the Gulf kingdom’s appointed parliament) said it had been deluged by demands from Saudi women urging it to veto plans by the government to turn to Morocco to get housemaids following the suspension of domestic workers from the Philippines and Indonesia.
“Many Saudi woman have objected to plans to import domestic workers from Morocco…they say the Moroccan women are beautiful and this will cause continuous anxiety and concern in Saudi families,” ‘Sharq’ daily said.
“Some of them said Moroccan women are so attractive that their husbands could easily fall for them…others said Moroccans are good at magic and sorcery and that this could enable them to lure their husbands.”
In comments last week, a Saudi chamber official said Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab economy and the world’s top oil exporter, could turn to Morocco and other countries to get its domestic workers following the dispute with the Philippines and Indonesia, the largest suppliers of housemaids to the Gulf countries.
“We are considering turning to countries which allow their domestic workers to move to other countries without preconditions…these include Morocco, east Asia, and some south African countries,” said Saad Al Baddah, director of the labour recruitment committee at the Saudi Chambers Federation.
Maryam Hassouni in Dunya & Desie
YT
(Thanks to Robin Khundkar)