‘64.6% of female guest workers in Jordan are domestic helpers’

AMMAN — Domestic helpers constitute 64.6 per cent of all 76,473 female guest workers in Jordan, a Sisterhood Is Global (SIGI) statement said Tuesday.

Citing Department of Statistics (DoS) figures from 2015, the institute said there are 49,470 domestic helpers in Jordan, most of whom work in Amman, Irbid, Balqa and Zarqa. 

Female guest workers employed in manufacturing industries number 24,670. Of these workers, 4,830 are Sri Lankans. 

The largest number of domestic helpers in Jordan are from the Philippines (15,636), followed by Sri Lankans (3,742) and then Indonesians (1,233). 

But SIGI said these figures do not reflect the actual number of domestic helpers in Jordan, noting that many are not registered at the Labour Ministry and its directorates around the Kingdom. 

Despite domestic helpers’ positive contributions to the labour market and the economy, and the positive effect of their work on the lives of many families, they are — in many cases — deprived of their rights and face racism and assault, SIGI said. 

They are at times subjected to verbal and physical abuse, receive their salaries late, and are forced to live in poor conditions with no days off. Some employers also take their passports, treating them as “sub-humans”, the institute added. 

SIGI called for ratifying the International Labour Organisation’s  Convention on Domestic Workers to safeguard the rights of guest labourers. 

Jordan would be the first Arab country to ratify the accord, the statement added.