By : Siti Nurbaiyah Nadzmi
Intan Shafinas Aziz |
The government's initiative to train women as professional home managers raises questions about the relationship between the employer and employee, and whether the job appeals to local women, writes SITI NURBAIYAH NADZMI.
| Suhakam's Datuk N. Siva Subramaniam |
| Professor Datuk Dr Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hassan Shahabudin |
To earn a living, Intan, 26, worked at a factory in Sungai Petani, did direct selling in Ipoh and is now a sales assistant at a photo printing and camera accessories shop in Kuala Lum-pur, earning RM950 a month.
On Aug 26, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced a RM10 million fund to train women as professional home managers. Expected to begin in November, the course will cover household management and the care of babies, children and the elderly.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen said she would propose a monthly income of RM700 to RM1,200 for those who complete the programme.
Other jobs offered Social Security Organisation and Employees Provident Fund contributions, medical benefits, annual leave and overtime allowances, which she said home managers should get, too.
And she wondered how "professional" the job would be, referring to the delicate issue of the relationship between the employer and employee.
"It is difficult when the line is not properly drawn. There must be an agreement between the boss and the domestic helper, like a job scope. Otherwise there will be many complications."
That was why a live-in home manager was not an attractive option to many women, she said. "A regular fixed eight hours would be a better arrangement."
Zainun Saffie, 45, had such an arrangement with understanding employers near her house in Jerteh, Terengganu.
After years of working at a school canteen, Zainun became a babysitter operating from her house.
But after the death of her husband three years ago, she wanted a job away from home and chose to work as a housekeeper.
Her duties are cleaning the house, laundry and occasionally light cooking from 8.30am to noon, Sundays to Thursdays. She is paid RM400 a month.
"House cleaning is common here but most of us prefer to work half a day or until the employers return from work in the afternoon."
It is, however, almost impossible to employ a local domestic helper elsewhere, as Maimunah Abdul Rahman, an entrepreneur in Johor Baru found.
"Once in a blue moon, a local girl agrees to work as a domestic helper for a few months. They never stay longer, no matter how much we offer them."
Live-in domestic help does not come cheap.
An Indonesian is paid RM500 a month, while a Filipina charges not less than US$400 (RM1,200), while a local is paid about RM1,000.
Maimunah said she would prefer a local housekeeper for the shared cultural, religious and social background.
Dr Ng said the training centre offered an alternative income to an estimated three million "unemployed" housewives.
Malaysian Human Rights commissioner Datuk N. Siva Subramaniam said the ministry should ask whether it was an attractive job for Malaysian women.
Dialogues and seminars with women's non-governmental organisations and the Malay-sian Trades Union Congress would provide input on what should be in the training programme and how it should be carried out, he added.
"The ministry must make sure that the programme will benefit the target group and that the training is not outsourced to unqualified trainers."
Subramaniam said if and when things went wrong, domestic helpers must have an agency to protect and help them.
Filipinas, for example, have the Philippines Overseas Lab-our Office at their embassy, offering help to distressed or abused overseas workers.
The office has drawn up a contract to be signed by a Filipina maid and her employer.
It provides that she cannot be taken to work at another premises, must not work more than eight hours at a stretch or six days a week, must have leave with full pay, including medical leave, and must not be asked to wash cars or provide massage. Now, local maids rely on verbal agreements, or trust, with their employers.
This was not enough, said National Council of Women's Organisations president Professor Datuk Dr Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hassan Shahabudin. "Rights extended to foreign workers should apply to Ma-laysian housekeepers, too."
Sharifah Hapsah viewed the training centre as a long-term phasing out of foreigners as domestic maids.
She said the ministry should look into the terms and conditions of the job or risk a weak response from the target groups.
"By 'professionalising' the housekeeper, we are also increasing the salary and making the service expensive.
"Lower- and middle-income households will not be able to afford a maid, which can be a necessity when the couple is working and raising a family."
The ministry may want to look at introducing different types of services with lower charges, she said.
