Indonesian maids in the Arab world: Hopes, dreams, and disillusionment

Abstract

For many years large numbers of Indonesian women have taken jobs as servants in the Middle East. The attraction of this work, as opposed to similar positions in Indonesia, is the potential to earn high wages, unavailable to those with little formal education in the home country. The challenges of this work are considerable and are widely publicized in Indonesia. Nonetheless, working overseas as a maid remains appealing for many women. This chapter describes the experiences of a number of women from Cianjur, West Java, in Saudi Arabia and discusses their use of this kind of work to enhance their own agency and address persistent economic problems they face in Indonesia, despite social pressure, entrenched unemployment, educational attainment, and cultural expectations.