Focus: Does slavery still exist?

10:37 Gulf News: Do you think the sense of ownership people feel when they employ househelp is equivalent to slavery?

10:40 Sandhya Shetty: I disagree, based on my personal experience but agree from the way I see people behave with their househelp. While my children and I have always treated my maid as an elder sister to me and an aunt to them, I know and have seen a lot of people treating their househelp differently. It is as if because they have brought her from her home country, they own her and, therefore, won’t bother to go about doing their normal chores. It is as if they were queens of olden times with maids at their beck and call.

10:41 Riyad Mahmoud: I agree to a certain extent as I know of cases where owners display a sense of hierarchy over their househelp.

10:41 Sumera Malek: I agree. When it comes to hiring househelp, I feel that many families tend to treat them differently in terms of being strict while talking to them and not considering their priorities. Even if they threat them well, there is usually a sense of ownership in their tone, which I believe is equivalent to slavery.

10:43 Sandhya Shetty: My maid is an integral part of our family. My infant adores her, and she, too, treats us like she is one of the family. It is all about a mutual relationship. We treat her well and, therefore, she never thought of leaving us for another family. You give respect and love and they reciprocate.

10:44 Mohammad Al Olama: I disagree with the statement. There is a significant difference between slavery and househelp. Househelps are just employed to work on a limited contract. Similar to any contract governed by laws, the help can always resign based on free will or have the contract terminated by the employer with a specific, due process.

10:46 Riyad Mahmoud: On a conscious level, it is nothing but a mental attitude for such owners who like to brag about their wealth. If you think, this is not enough, how would one describe those young students who bring their househelp to the university just to carry their belongings from one class to another?

10:47 Sandhya Shetty: I disagree with Mohammad. How many of them are free to leave and if that was the case, we would never have read about maids jumping to their death in Singapore.

10:49 Mohammad Al Olama: The issue of mistreating maids should be seen from a household perspective. Yes, we do have cases of abuse, but the relationship should be more of a manager and employee. You have to manage your help and at the same time maintain a close relationship with him or her. People management skills are required.

10:51 Gulf News: Economic need drives modern-day slavery.

10:52 Mohammad Al Olama: Yes, financial difficulties do implicitly force workers to stay and work even if they don’t want to, but isn’t that the case of many people working and hating their jobs? Furthermore, when we look at the definition of slavery, it is not that a a slave can’t leave because they need money; rather they are not paid in the first place and their freedom is not in their own hands.

10:56 Sandhya Shetty: The reason they can’t voice their views is because they are bound by problems and are therefore forced to give in to modern-day slavery. If life was easy, they wouldn’t be a slave in the first place. It’s the situation that compels people to take action, whether positive or negative.

10:59 Sumera Malek: We have seen many cases related to the torture of housekeepers. It’s very unfortunate that there is minimal support for housekeepers. Families simply lodge a complaint and get them fired, which in many cases is inhuman.

11:00 Sandhya Shetty: My maid has been with me for a while now. She is my first and probably the only one I will ever have. We have treated her just like we would treat any other member in our family. If she does a good job, I tell her she did great, if she needs improvement, I’ll guide her through and if she needs to be reprimanded for a mistake, I let her know she should not rather than mistreat her. After all, she has left all her loved ones behind for a reason.

11:02 Sumera Malek: I think keeping a human touch with housekeepers is the most important thing.

— Compiled by Donia Jenabzadeh/She is a trainee with Gulf News