Daily Times

Most readers have at some point debated with someone settled abroad on the pros and cons of living in Pakistan. The first pro almost always cited is the food, of course. The second is usually access to domestic help-cooks, maids, drivers. But little does the listener know that behind that luxury is a national lie. The truth is those people are not hired to help, but to serve. So the more accurate label for them would be ‘servant’.

Having ‘help’ is considered glamorous by our envious comrades abroad who God forbid have to wash their own dishes and raise their own children. I imagine them thinking of a Downton Abbey like whimsical atmosphere of colourful employees, dutifully maintaining an estate, and retiring to their lodgings with satisfaction. In reality, they aren’t there out of duty but necessity.

The average domestic ‘staff’ in any affluent Pakistani home is typically uneducated and from the poorest background. It is not uncommon to find servants barely in their teens. Most are crammed into small quarters. Some of the most palatial houses in Pakistan have maids sleeping on the dining room floor.

This doesn’t mean that employers are malevolent. It is more or less the norm. In fact, most employers feel quite pleased with themselves. After all, they are giving their staff an income, however measly, and a roof over their heads, however basic. Considering how poor and destitute majority of Pakistanis are, this is to a degree a fair argument.

But it is not an excuse to become immune to their problems or numb to their needs. The honest truth is that many employers see their staff with a degree of contempt and a lack of empathy. By focusing on their backgrounds, neediness and limitations they have dehumanised them. As if they are a separate species that does not sweat in the scorching heat. That doesn’t shiver in the bone chilling winter. That doesn’t crave cold water, or hot tea, or rest. That doesn’t get cramps, or fever, or cavities. That doesn’t desire comforts or suffer from heartbreak or homesickness. When, in fact, they absolutely do.

Third-world domestic employers are not concerned with what more evolved societies call employee benefits or rights. Simply sustaining them is sufficient. That mind-et is the slippery slope, which climaxes into the heinous headlines that occasionally make the papers.

Employers and society in general need to re-sensitise themselves, and treat their staff as humans not labour

For those that need a reminder, a pregnant maid in Islamabad was raped and murdered by her employer in March. A few months before that, a teenage maid was starved, strangled, then dumped into a sewer. These are very extreme examples, but not isolated. They are proof that something is wrong with the social structure, particularly how the ‘haves’ perceive and treat the ‘have-nots.’

As guests, how many times have we witnessed the host lovingly hobnobbing with the guests yet simultaneously grinding her teeth at the kitchen staff? How many stories do we have of our elders physically disciplining their employees? How often have we heard accounts of staff being suspected and penalised for theft without any evidence?

Employers and society in general need to re-sensitise themselves, and treat their staff as humans not labour. The most common excuse against such measures is ‘if you treat them too nicely they won’t work’. Or worst, ‘they will think you’re soft and steal from you.’ Such arguments are not without merit, but they aren’t justification for callous treatment.

The majority of the blue-collar staff in Pakistan is indeed what western human resource management books call ‘Type B’ personalities: those that require constant supervision and motivation. Furthermore, most come from a dog-eat-dog world, where their primary concern is survival not ethics. Poverty combined with a lack of education does not produce the ideal citizen. That begets the question, how does one then manage one’s staff?

Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) set many relatable examples. A hadith mentions a man who asked him how many times he should forgive his servant. The prophet answered: “70 times in each day.”

Another hadith has the prophet saying: “They [servants] are only your brothers. Allah has placed them in your care…feed him from what he eats himself, clothe him with what he clothes himself. Let him not overburden him with that which he cannot bear. And if he overburdens him, then lend him a hand.”

If one prefers something less temporal, federal laws clearly mention fair treatment, no cruel and unusual punishment, and legal consequences for harassment and false accusations.

Employers must see it as their social and moral obligation to treat and sustain their employees compassionately. The majority of Pakistanis live in miserable conditions. Apart from their employers they have no other avenues for help. The line between respite and ruin is often their benefactor’s generosity. Domestic staff is not a luxury. It is a responsibility.

The writer can be reached at Skhanzada@ymail.com.