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This is in response to the post about maid abuse that Mark posted. I kind of went on my own tangent as far as the whole issue of having maids is concerned.
The abuse that poor woman endured was horrific to say the least. I wonder what the stats are for maid abuse. Do you know how common this is? In Latin America it is common to have maids as well. It is a part of the culture that I have a hard time with. I was raised here and have become somewhat Americanized. I am very independant yet I get so conflicted when my aunt's maid fixes my bed or washes my dishes etc. Everything is done for you. I'm not used to that and the pay that maids receive isn't very much. Just to put the pay issue into perspective Tonlla my aunt's maid, made a quarter of the money to get her mom a Christmas gift. Her other 3 sibilings pitched in to get this present for their mom. Guess what the present was... a front door to their mom's house. They live in the poverty belt. Whenever I leave a relatives home I always give the maids extra money because I know that they are very poor (usually maids are indigenous people that live in the poverty belt of Mexico). They are so appreciative of the money.
My mom's sister is into "status" and my aunt's maid is below her in rank. Due to this the maid is not allowed to eat with the family and is kind of looked lowly upon even though she is the one that keeps the family running! Another one of my aunts treats her maids more like family. This is rare. The treatment of the maids in Latin America is not the same across the board and I highly doubt that there would be any common knowledge of maid abuse happening. I'm sure it does happen though. These people work long hours for little pay and hardly see their families. The working conditions are not great yet it is interesting in seeing how cultures are similar in some ways and different in others.
Posted by Adriana Worley on 5/24/04; 12:47:25 PM
from the dept.
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