Is it a culture to have a maid in your country when husband & wife are working?

Here in my country it is also a normal thing to hire a maid when both the parents are working. In many occurrences, the maid lives together with the family and handles all the housechores. But sad to say, due to this many children are closer to their maid than to their own mother. Some children even speak using the maid's accent, and not the mother's accent. I've seen proof in front of my own eyes. Just imagine a Malay child speaking in the accent of Indonesian. It must sound funny and when they go to parties, people would wonder whether the child really belongs to the parents or the maid. Just a thought, though. Have a nice day.

In the Philippines, we are lucky enough to have a lot of unemployed people around which we could easily get as assistants or domestic helpers. In other countries, this is not the case. And it is quite expensive to maintain helpers in other countries. Maids are blessings to us Filipinos, that is why we better treat them right and give them good benefits as well. By the way, if you are also interested with 2 new paid-to-post programs, with lower minimum and a little bit higher pay-outs, give me a pm.

In the United States working couples and nonworking couples that can afford a maid will hire one only if they want one. When we both worked we did not want a maid. I don't trust having someone in our house while we are at work. I am particular about the way I want things done and I prefer to do it myself. Most Americans that I know they are working couples choose to both work and when they get home from work clean up together husband and wife. When we are at work we have daycare,babysitters,or a family member who we will pay every week to take care of our children. When we get off from work which ever parent gets off from work first will pick up the children from daycare. Now right now I work inside of our home and my husband works outside the home and while he is at work I take care of the children an clean the home and when he gets off from work he helps me clean up and my children are responsible for cleaning up any mess that they make around the house. I give them chores. Since we are a family we work together to get things done.

I am from India and it was a part of our daily existence to have a maid, when the women of the house would sit around and laze the whole day and men would bring in tons of money. Affording maids was like a status symbol then…it still is, except the difference being that very few households, even with double-income, can afford a maid nowadays. Its only the rich and the fortunate few, who have maids to do their work. But unlike US and other western societies where you have gadgets to help you out, the introduction of machines to Indian homes is still to catch on big! So you see we Indian homemakes, who are also working, are having it rough on all sides!

As far as we are concerned, we both are working and we manage our affairs with the help of a part-time maid servant. If she does not turn up, things go topsy-turvy and we feel very nervous and fumble up in managing the house-hold affairs.

By all means, we get one if we can afford one and if it makes sense to get one. Sometimes, it turns out cheaper if the wife or husband simply stays home and tends to the children and the chores. If most of one salary is going to pay the maid, then what is the use of having one. When I was younger, I lived with my uncle for a while. We had a housekeeper. One day my cousin and I stayed home from school. We didn't clean the house, so the housekeeper did it and we got in trouble. My aunt figured if we stayed at home, we should have cleaned up the house.

i am from the philippines. and that's what i like in our country. we can get maids. we don't give them so much expensive salaries. but they serve us a lot. in my dad's place, we have 3 maids. two of them we send to school during day time and they work for us after school. so, it's better. i don't need to do lots of things. but now that i am here in sweden with my boyfriend, we don't have any maid at all. it will be too expensive to have one. so what we do is help out at home. i don't do everything here just because i am the woman. my boyfriend helps out a lot. just like today, he cooked me a yummy dinner! and he does the laundry and some dishes, too. so, that's what in another country. couples help each other about everything... anne

Hi, I think the scenario is quiet similar with it. We are having maid if both of the husband and the wife is working. Although it's sort a trend in my country but I have my own opinion about it. I think it's fine if we have a maid that will do some of the house works like washing the clothes and clean the house. But I'm not agree at all if the maid stays in the house for 24/7, taking care of the kids and cooking. Actually I had a maid(full time) when I was kid, and I think I will not continue the trend of taking the full time house maid.

In the UK it is not really usual to have maids and servants. Bluntly - if the couple could afford to pay a maid, then they could probably afford for one of them to stay home all day anyway. The majority of people here work because they have to - just to pay the mortgage as our cost of living is so high - having a maid is not really an option unless you are in the very, VERY wealthy top end of society and they tend not to work at all anyway!! Most people take their children to a nursery, and many companies actually have creches so they can be looked after by qualified people while the Mother works, and the cost is deducted from her wages directly. A few people may employ a nanny or au pair to look after the children, but a maid to do cleaning etc is very rare here.

In the United States, most average families do not have servants to assist with household chores while the husband and wife are working. Usually I do all of the housework, and work. When my husband is able to be home, he assists in doing laundry and fixing things around the house or doing dishes. So, he does help quite often when he is home.

I think it's more about the economy that it is about culture. But yeah, having a maid is kind of normal here in the Philippines. Even my driver has a maid. As the other poster said, there are so many unemployed people who needs jobs so those who can hire them do. My mom never worked outside (she works from home) but she still hired maids. The good side is you don't have to do anything anymore. The bad side is some maids are dishonest. I have a friend whose younger sister got battered by their maid because she wouldn't stop crying. That is horrible. That's why we're lucky that we found good helpers and we try to give them as much benefits as possible. For example, when we go abroad, we buy them souvenirs even the smallest ones like keychains and stuff. I have a nanny, but she does housework now rather than take care of me. But sometimes she still treats me like a baby. Which is irritating at times, but I'm grateful for her. I even call her "nanay" (it's Filipino for mother) because she really is like one to me. She started taking care of me when I was only 6 months old and now 20 years later she's still here. That's why I treat her to so many things like I bring her to concerts and movies and stuff.

I live in Tasmania Australia and here in my town I dont know anyone that actually has a maid, we do it all ourselves! If we both work and you have a child that child either goes to a family member while you work or to day care which is quite expensive! I dont think that I would like to have someone else in my house doing my house work, I would rather do it myself

Sure. It is so common. In my home country, both husband and wife has to work or else life could get a little tough. Working life is often quite tough as they need to work long hours. At best, your kids could be looked after by your parents, if they are willing. Then you can employ a part time maid on weekends to clean the house. Cleaning the house once a week is fine since no one is at home most of the time. Honestly, I'd rather my parents look after my kids then the maid. I can trust my family more than anybody else.

i am not familiar with the dynamics of labor in the US but i believe jobs in the US can be more flexible than here in the Philippines. Actually, wives in the Philippines do not fully delegate all the task to the maids. In fact, they also do house chores and bring their children in school. I believe even in the elitist group this is happening. But i don't of course discredit the possibilities that some wives are neglecting their responsibilities still I go to the side that majority of the wives are involve in house chores.

It is not common for people except the VERY wealthy ones to employ domestic help. I really wish it was something I could afford, because we could sure use the help.

Here in Singapore, not every family has a maid. Often those family with maids are those who can afford it. Some have no choice but to employ a maid. In my opinion, by getting a domestic help, it is a win-win for all. The parents can concentrate on what they are doing, the children and household chores taken care off, the maid earning an income which contribute to her supporting her own family.

Yes., This is a common practice in the PhILIPPINES. When both parents are working, a maid is hired, after all the salary is not that expensive. However, it's no longer safe to just hire a maid from nowhere as we can't always trust everybody. Infact, many cases have been reported of child abuse by maids, robbery and others...

Maids in Malaysia are considered another member of the family.If not,the mother in law.lol.

i think have a maid is not country culture.. it is up to the family. in Malaysia have a maid is popular too and parent who both working not compulsory have a maid because maybe they can send to neighbor home or stay with sibling.

hey brother, i'm from the philippines too, we have three househelps, one for laundry and ironing, and two for cleaning the house and other stuffs. they are paid well with bonuses and free lodging and groceries for their family monthly. they are entitled for a dayoff once a week. i think that is fair enough.. don't you think?