Kindness and respect go a long way in reducing cases of maid-related violence in the Kingdom, said several Saudi experts.
“We have to make maids feel at home in our families,” one said.
Experts have voiced their professional opinion amid recent calls made by Saudis for maid-free homes in the wake of increasing cases of violence involving domestic workers in the country.
A foreign maid in Meesan, south of Taif, recently killed her Saudi sponsor, while another maid stabbed to death her Sudanese employer in Jeddah. Several reports have also surfaced about maids beating and abusing Saudi children.
Many Saudi families depend largely on foreign maids for various services.
More than 2 million maids work in the Kingdom.
According to the Labor Ministry, nearly 715,000 maids were recruited in 2013 alone.
Maids have become part and parcel of the Saudi social set-up and most families with working women are unable to live without them.
Fuad Kawther, a Saudi aviation engineer, said his family has never faced any problem with their maid since they assign her specific duties.
“Unfortunately, some families treat their maids like slaves and ask them to do all sorts of work. They have to cook, look after children, clean the house and even take care of domestic pets, among countless other chores. This is the crux of the problem,” he told Arab News. He said many families would not be able to get rid of maids for several reasons.
“Even Aysha, the wife of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), reportedly used to employ maids, so there is nothing wrong in having maids, but we have to treat them properly. We should not overburden them like we often do now.”
Wala Al-Ashry, a psychologist with Princess Nora University in Riyadh, stressed the need to study maids’ mental and social conditions before recruiting them.
“Maids may abuse children for several reasons, including depression, personal problems and mental diseases. Cultural difference may also pave the way for behavioral changes. Some of these maids may simply be too young to know how to take care of children properly,” she said.
She said geographical and environment factors also affect behavior.
Harsh housemaids will negatively impact the children they come into contact with and affect their overall upbringing, she said.
Families should also make sure maids are free from mental and contagious diseases, she said.
“We have to deal with maids politely, give them free time and allow them to keep in touch with their families back home regularly. In short, we should never forget that maids are human beings just like us with needs and moods.”
Fahd bin Ali Al-Zahrani, a crime researcher, said people commit crimes for several social factors. “Many families do not treat maids properly, leaving them depressed and vengeful against children and other family members. Most families leave their children with maids all the time, increasing tension and depression and with it, the risk of violence.”
Nawal Hausawi, a psychological consultant, said many families can avoid employing maids if their men are ready to support their women in handling various household affairs. “Saudi women demand maids because they cannot do all the work at home alone without their husbands’ support,” she said.
Hausawi stressed the need to provide proper training to newly recruited maids for three months. “We should not allow our children to abuse domestic workers. Some cultures consider children giving orders to older people an insult, even if that person is a maid. We have to teach our children to depend on themselves and respect elders.”
She said Saudi families can do many things to alter negative attitudes.
“We can ask them to join us while eating at restaurants, give them money from our yearly charity obligations or simply, try to make them feel at home. At the same time we can install cameras inside our homes, since kindness does not equate with compromising our safety.”
‘Make maids feel at home’
‘Make maids feel at home’
Motherhood during Ramadan
- Planning ahead, flexibility, and family support helps mothers make it through the holy month
JEDDAH: For mothers — new, working or stay-at-home, Ramadan comes with its own set of demands as they strive to balance work, house, and children of different age groups, all while fasting.
As routines shift and energy levels fluctuate, Arab News spoke to mothers on how they manage to keep their world together.
Elaf Trabulsi, founder and creative at Ctrl C Agency and a full-time employee, is a mother to an 18-month-old daughter. For Trabulsi, Ramadan is “controlled chaos, honestly. It’s my favorite month but it’s also the one that tests every system I’ve built — work, home, health, sleep. There’s something about fasting while managing a full schedule that forces you to be very deliberate about where your energy goes. I’ve come to appreciate that pressure.”
Planning is a vital strategy during Ramadan, mothers said, because without a clear structure in place, the household ends up in a state of disarray. A lot of decisions have to be made professionally and domestically to hold the house together.
“I juggle a full-time job alongside the agency, so Ramadan is really about protecting the hours that matter most and being honest about what can wait,” Trabulsi said.
Baraa Hifni, a physical education teacher at Jeddah Campus International School, echoed similar sentiments. “I rely on planning ahead, distributing household responsibilities, and organizing my children’s time. I also make sure to take some time for myself so that I can stay in a good mood throughout the day. Balance requires calmness and clear priorities,” the mother of two young daughters said.
Even with a schedule planned, juggling motherhood and work can often be challenging because newborns and toddlers function on their own timeline, and it is the sleep schedule that takes a hit.
“Ramadan flips your schedule naturally — late gatherings, suhoor, staying up — and then you have a toddler operating on her own timeline regardless. That gap between when you slept and when she’s ready to start her day is where it gets hard. You learn to function on less and find energy where you can,” Trabulsi told Arab News.
Finding pockets of peace or solitude during Ramadan for worship is also quite difficult for mothers because they cannot set or follow a rigid schedule.
For Hifni, it is usually after the chaos around iftar settles after maghrib prayer “even if it’s just a few minutes to regain my calmness and draw closer to God.”
For Trabulsi it is “whenever and wherever I can find it … sometimes it’s the quiet after she sleeps, sometimes it’s during the drive home from a gathering.”
Hana Barakat, an occupational therapist and mompreneur productivity coach, shares similar thoughts.
“Allow worship to be brief and spread throughout the day. Measure productivity by consistency, not quantity. Accept fluctuating energy from day to day. Recognize that a quieter Ramadan can still be deeply spiritual,” she said.
“Achieving balance — or harmony, as I prefer — does not mean pushing the body to match spiritual intentions but adjusting expectations and practices so that the body supports the experience rather than resists it,” she said. “Realism supports well-being and allows space to experience the month with calm.”
She advises new mothers to reset their expectations by prioritizing recovery and infant care over productivity. For a new mother, this shift can feel especially intense because she is already adapting to life after childbirth — “caring for an infant whose needs are unpredictable.”
Fasting can also influence emotional regulation, particularly when combined with sleep deprivation.
“When hunger combines with lack of sleep and fatigue, the nervous system becomes more sensitive; the crying baby may make mothers feel more overwhelmed than usual,” Barakat said.
“Emotional reactions may occur more quickly, and the mother needs extra effort to calm herself. These are normal physiological responses, not a sign of being an impatient or inadequate mother.”
Barakat outlined several strategies to help new mothers navigate the month with greater ease. Reducing nonessential tasks is not neglect, it preserves the strength needed to move steadily through the month, she said.
Choosing one meaningful task per day prevents energy from being drained by trying to accomplish everything. Waiting for an uninterrupted stretch may lead to frustration. Brief quiet moments can become restorative spiritual pauses, she added.
Even a few minutes of true rest can help regulate the nervous system, improving patience and emotional balance. Less complexity in meals, social obligations, and routines leaves more room for spiritual presence.
Meaningful support, Barakat said, must be practical rather than merely verbal, for all mothers.
Spouses and family members should help by taking responsibility for specific daily tasks, giving mothers uninterrupted time to rest, reducing social expectations placed upon her, and understanding fluctuations in her energy and mood.
“When responsibility is shared, the mother can experience Ramadan with greater calm, ease, and presence,” she said.
