Elderly care as part of the job of migrant domestic workers

In its issue of October 15, The Daily Star newspaper published a feature on the migrant women domestic workers (MWDWs) with a special focus on their provision of care for the elderly. This phenomenon, the newspaper wrote, has grown to become a part of the daily assignments of a big number of those workers besides their regular housekeeping and cleaning chores. For more insight on the subject, The Daily Star spoke to a number of elderly people who acknowledged the positive role of domestic workers in their lives, especially with the semi-absence of family members who are pre-occupied with managing their own lives. With the increasing number of seniors in Lebanon, the newspaper said, elderly care has become a rising concern for the majority of households, given the still prevalent norms in society which stigmatize the act of placing an elderly family member in a nursing home. The newspaper moreover, citing a big number of families, drew attention to the fact that contracting domestic helpers for the elderly is economically more viable compared to professional care which can be very expensive. To expound on this, the newspaper interviewed the professor at the Health Sciences Faculty at the American University of Beirut, Dr. Sawsan Abdel Rahim. The latter identified some of the difficulties arising from certain situations where, for example, the senior family member, need special medical care or special food for which MWDWs do not have the required skilled training and qualifications. Over and above, Abdel Rahim explained, caring for seniors can also be emotionally traumatic for domestic workers, and in most cases their salary remains unchanged. Abdel Rahim concluded by referring to a study she completed last year on the reasons for hiring domestic help. According to that survey which covered 1200 individuals, some 20% of respondents said they hired the domestic worker to care for an elderly family member, while another 20% mentioned care for young children. (The Daily Star, October 17, 2016)