“Qataris urged to cut reliance on maids”
by Anwar El Shamy in Gulf Times (11/01/2010)
A recent study has warned against the growing reliance on domestic helpers by national families, saying that demand on housemaids has reached “unprecedented levels”.
The ‘Qatari Family’ study prepared by the Permanent Population Committee, said that domestic helpers constituted 24% of the number of people living in Qatari families.
Figures quoted by the study showed that each family had 2.3 housemaids and servants.
“The demand for housemaids to take care of the domestic work and take care of children has increased in a way that made it impossible for families to do without them and that number of domestic workers can exceed the number of family members in several families,” the study added.
It also urged the citizens to cut reliance on housemaids, saying that childcare should be the responsibility of parents rather than domestic helpers.
“It is necessary that parents should be trained and educated through the institutions concerned on how to take care of their children without depending on domestic workers who will never be able to inculcate the society’s specific values, beliefs and traditions in them,” the study indicated.
The study estimated the average number of the Qatari family members to be 9.5 in 2008, from 8.6 in 1997. “Contrary to what happened in several countries where the size of families decreased, Qatari family size increased mainly due to the growing demand on domestic helpers with each family having an average of 2.3 domestic workers,” the study said. According to the Qatar Statistics Authority, domestic helpers are included in the population census conducted by the Authority. Without domestic helpers, the study put the national family’s average size at 7.3 persons, which the study said, was “still relatively high”.
About marriage levels, the study said that some 54.9% of males and 55.8% of females, aged above 15, among the Qatari citizens are married, which the study said, signified some sort of “marriage stability”.
It also warned against the growing rates of marriage between close relatives, which increased from 10.3 in 1997 to 23.7% of the total number of marriage contracts in 2007. “Young people should be educated on the negative effects of the social phenomena like marriage between relatives, early marriage and divorce,” the study said.
On life expectancy at birth for the national family members, the study pointed out that the age has increased from 76 years in 2005 to 79.5 in 2007, which the study said, showed an improvement in life quality.
About the national families’ monthly income, the study put a majority of 71.6% of families in middle and above middle income group ranging from QR10,000 to 50,000 a month, while 27.2% were getting more than QR50,000 in 2007.
