Oh please, there are better examples in the USA, than Naija. Even then, if some of the girls were to choose between working as a live in maid with paid board and lodgings in Nigeria and the USA, they will definitely go with the USA. The underlying reason is that by law, they are protected from abuse, and they would not have to work 24/7 without overtime. True, there are some families that cater to their maids adequately, but sincerely, how many of them exist back home? How many families who employ their maids pay them overtime or give them 2 days off per week to attend to their needs. Nna, as I have lived in the USA, I have come to the conclusion that house maid/houseboy is a modern day slavery. For once, I dont think I'd be able to (if my parents had died when I was young) to work seven days a week in a household, washing their clothes, sweeping, cooking, dusting and all those duties while the children are sitting around idly watching television or engaging in fun activities. Not fair at all, not fair. You simply cant justify slavery because of pittance you are providing them, like board and lodgings. You are in Houston, right? I guess you may have heard of an African in the east coast who was arrested by the cops for abusing their maid. Or, an Egyptian who was rescued from slavery in Los Angeles. So, these servitude is accepted in our society, to the West, it is synomynous with slavery.

Several things :

- Did you ever watch the fresh prince of bellaire? I'm betting no one complained because the butler's job was glamorized. There are thousands of such butlers in the USA, and they do everything from cooking to cleaning. And they dont get to take days off as they please.

- It is not slavery. Slavery is forced labor, against your will, wether paid or not. Plain and simple. No one forces you to be a househelp. You know this, stop belittling those who actually suffered slavery.

- Are the conditions of being a house help as sweet as a babysitter in the US? Of course not. But look around you, look at the family the househelp is coming from. Its crappy, but it is way better than what it could be. Would you like for that family to starve until living standards in Nigeria are sufficient enough to render househelps redundant?

- All systems have abuse. Just because some people abused the system doesnt mean the system is wrong. Better laws are the answer.

- You cannot throw away the househelp system in Nigeria without changing the economic condition of the nation. This would be like building a castle in the air.

I am still waiting for examples from Hauwa, LadyT and Raymond. Please put your rhetorical hand where your mouth is

All working class married women need a house help but should not be treated like a slave!!! end of story

i smell hypocrisy here.
i'll bet my last penny that some of you kicking against maids grew up with one, two or even more. i'll even take further by saying some of you still have them in your homes/houses. why dont you ask parents to send them back and get YOU to do their jobs?

Roflmao

All working class married women need a house help but should not be treated like a slave!!! end of story

Even when they have teenage kids  at home?. Why do you need a maid to wash and cook for you when you have children her age that can do the same?

boy and girl preference doesn't really matter to me, i would take anyone available and i see nothing wrong with having a house maid as long as they as equally treated with respect and work in a humane condition and they go to school too.

@Sissy,
How many women in Nigeria do this?. They claim to treat them equally but end up buying them knock off clothes, sending them to chemists for medical care and restocking her shelves with tissue papers for monthly periods. How many maids have you witnessed in Unilag at the end of the day unless the oga for house is too rich and powerful. Most men do wish to treat the house girls equally as their kids but their wives are usually the problem because they'll start accusing him of eying her in order to stop him from helping her.

Really it all depends on how the so called housegirl/boy is treated.  Some of them after doing their chores are allowed to sit with the family and watch tv, eat dinner etc.  The kids of the madam/oga are also tasked to helping with chores so not too much burden is put on the house help.  But there are some families that treat house helps very badly.  They do chores from morning to night seven days a week, they eat all their meals in one corner of the kitchen or outside, they take baths outside even when there are more than one bathrooms in the house, the house help dare not come into the living room except to clean and serve guests (but the help help can watch tv outside through the window and this is when the madam/oga are in a good mood).

I grew up with maids in my house, it would have been impossible otherwise. My mother works full time and so does my dad, there couldn't have been anything else to do but hire a maid as I am the only one.
Our Maid ( I introduce her to people as my Cousin now) is one of the best things that happened to me especially when I was a teenager, she can do no wrong in my eyes. She's married now and my parents gave her quite an elaborate wedding. I refer to her daughter as my first love because I'm absolutely in love with that child. . . . if I don't see her in two weeks, I miss her so badly, its like a disease. Same for her mother, she's my "go-to" person.
There are two sides to this maid story. You either treat them right or you don't.

I grew up with maids in my house, it would have been impossible otherwise. My mother works full time and so does my dad, there couldn't have been anything else to do but hire a maid as I am the only one.
Our Maid ( I introduce her to people as my Cousin now) is one of the best things that happened to me especially when I was a teenager, she can do no wrong in my eyes. She's married now and my parents gave her quite an elaborate wedding. I refer to her daughter as my first love because I'm absolutely in love with that child. . . . if I don't see her in two weeks, I miss her so badly, its like a disease. Same for her mother, she's my "go-to" person.
There are two sides to this maid story. You either treat them right or you don't.

If you were the only child and she's good enough to be your cousin, why hire her in the first place to wash after you?. I mean, most working women
that have multiple children use the number of kids at home as an excuse to snatch up a maid but one child alone at home can do with a companion and not a slave girl.  Unless she baby sat you as an infant.

St.Funmi:

Even when they have teenage kids  at home?. Why do you need a maid to wash and cook for you when you have children her age that can do the same?

what if the kids are less than 4yrs, will you ask them to wash dish and cook for you? or what if those teenage kids are in boarding school?, don't bother i know your answer, I will drop my house spare key with my gateman to wash for me then i will send a pack of mr biggs delicious food to hobby at work while i eat manage mama put food, for dinner, i will engage my hobby with office gist until he fell asleep . comon Broaden your thinking.

St.Funmi:

If you were the only child and she's good enough to be your cousin, why hire her in the first place to wash after you?. I mean, most working women
that have multiple children use the number of kids at home as an excuse to snatch up a maid but one child alone at home can do with a companion and not a slave girl.  Unless she baby sat you as an infant.

I needed company and my mother needed help. She wasn't washing after me as you put it, where did I say she was? Or you just like to dig for information where there is none? I did all my chores and cleaning myself,tyvm.

Diverse opinions on this topic, very controversal opinions indeed. I think I should tell fellow nairalanders what is working for me. I have too domestic assistants; ( a male and a female). The male was seconded from a janitory/cleaning company just like you find in the banking halls. This guy wears uniform, resume at 6.30am and closes at 5.00pm. He handles all the cleaning and washing in and around the house weekdays only (the pay is not much and is directly to the company). The female is a retired nurse and a widow, she works only on weekends. Myself and my wife including our kids are enjoying their services. The truth is that domestic assistants should not be left to do all the works. The wife too should do some chores, the husband do some as well. The kids as they grow up should be tought some domestic jobs. for example. during the week my wife do all the cooking (especially dinner), while I take the kids on home works from school. The female domestic staff do all the washing and other cleaning at weekends. i.e. 4 days a month (the pay is not much as well). Sunday is a free day for all of us. I like to discourage the idea of hiring under-aged girls and boys and enslave them as domestic staff.

aduje:

Diverse opinions on this topic, very controversal opinions indeed. I think I should tell fellow nairalanders what is working for me. I have too domestic assistants; ( a male and a female). The male was seconded from a janitory/cleaning company just like you find in the banking halls. This guy wears uniform, resume at 6.30am and closes at 5.00pm. He handles all the cleaning and washing in and around the house weekdays only (the pay is not much and is directly to the company). The female is a retired nurse and a widow, she works only on weekends. Myself and my wife including our kids are enjoying their services. The truth is that domestic assistants should not be left to do all the works. The wife too should do some chores, the husband do some as well. The kids as they grow up should be tought some domestic jobs. for example. during the week my wife do all the cooking (especially dinner), while I take the kids on home works from school. The female domestic staff do all the washing and other cleaning at weekends. i.e. 4 days a month (the pay is not much as well). Sunday is a free day for all of us. I like to discourage the idea of hiring under-aged girls and boys and enslave them as domestic staff.

what happens if your kids are on holiday? you will pay extra bills for the female domestic staff to baby sit ur kids during her off days or maybe you will take excuse from work? My friend you are not discouraging house help either because you have two, you are only avoiding them staying in your home, and pls stick to the topic it says House Boy or House Girl and not under age house girl or house boy,

Housegirl for me!
Will look after the children better and is she is fine, oga might get a Mouth Gig!

I wouldn't opt for any.

Oddly enough, everyone's up in arms about houseboys / housegirls.
In Europe, and The Americas, house helps are just as common, just the name's different.

House maids.
Scullery maids.
Chamber maids.
Valets.
Butlers
Major-domos.
Cooks.

Of course, their working conditions are generally better than those in Africa, and in most cases, their employment is contractual.
Some house maids in the UK are also as young as 14 / 16, in the country, those in the larger cities may be older, it's not uncommon to see butlers and chambermaids as old as 60, and have been in service to the same family for over a generation.

So yes, I'm against young children being exploited for cheap labour, and discarded once they attain puberty.
But, I'm not against house helps in general, as long as the said house help are treated decently, and are paid a fair wage.

House helps have been around for centuries, as far back as biblical times, and are here to stay.

DeltaVAG^TM

In Naija,

We call them housegirl / houseboy.

In UK they are called Au pair.

For me, it would be the female Au pair.

Siena:

I wouldn't opt for any.

Oddly enough, everyone's up in arms about houseboys / housegirls.
In Europe, and The Americas, house helps are just as common, just the name's different.

House maids.
Scullery maids.
Chamber maids.
Valets.
Butlers
Major-domos.
Cooks.

Of course, their working conditions are generally better than those in Africa, and in most cases, their employment is contractual.
Some house maids in the UK are also as young as 14 / 16, in the country, those in the larger cities may be older, it's not uncommon to see butlers and chambermaids as old as 60, and have been in service to the same family for over a generation.

So yes, I'm against young children being exploited for cheap labour, and discarded once they attain puberty.
But, I'm not against house helps in general, as long as the said house help are treated decently, and are paid a fair wage.

House helps have been around for centuries, as far back as biblical times, and are here to stay.

DeltaVAG^TM

good point!!!

Siena:

I wouldn't opt for any.

Oddly enough, everyone's up in arms about houseboys / housegirls.
In Europe, and The Americas, house helps are just as common, just the name's different.

House maids.
Scullery maids.
Chamber maids.
Valets.
Butlers
Major-domos.
Cooks.

Of course, their working conditions are generally better than those in Africa, and in most cases, their employment is contractual.
Some house maids in the UK are also as young as 14 / 16, in the country, those in the larger cities may be older, it's not uncommon to see butlers and chambermaids as old as 60, and have been in service to the same family for over a generation.

So yes, I'm against young children being exploited for cheap labour, and discarded once they attain puberty.
But, I'm not against house helps in general, as long as the said house help are treated decently, and are paid a fair wage.

House helps have been around for centuries, as far back as biblical times, and are here to stay.

DeltaVAG^TM

Also, in as much as the employment conditions are horrible for some, employers are actually doing some of these people a favour by providing them opportunities to earn a living.
The lucky/wise ones use that as a stepping stone to better things.

I'll prefer a female house maid because the usually more homely, wheras the male can bring armed robbers to one's house.

speaking realistically,House boy or house girl is a job.It may not be the type that you want o but its a job just like conductor,dustbin man amd bank manager.We're in the world and if you can see,almost everything is being abused.The abuse of house helps is uncalled for.But I know of some who might never have lived a better life if they were not somebogy's house help.Some house helps send their junior ones to school and do all kinds of good stuff.So its up to the individual to treat his house help right,as a fellow human,created by God.I didn't grow up with house helps neither do I have any.But just as you could have good boys and good girls,its the same possibilty you could have bad boys and bad girls.There's nothing like knowing the Lord.

As someone who grew up with house boy and girls ,i know how helpful it has been for us,to be honest all the house girls never last cos of my mom hash behaviour and she does it to her kids too and not just the house helps,so they either run away or she send them packing most of them are adult females .

The house boy is the best we´ve had so far,he took good care of us like a big brother since my parents are often off travelling on business etc
his like a family,my mom never had any problem with him everyone loved him,he was studying in the University part-time and taking care of us as well,we help him alot as i and my elder sister does most of the cooking and washing ,so we never treated him like a house boy,now his very succeful married with kids with his hardwork and my parents assistance cos his an Orphan so we are the only close family he have now.


When he got married my mom got another house girl she was about 16 or 17 yrs old, as soon as they employed her ,my family started having various problems and then she confessed one day in the church that she is a witch and the caused of most of our problems they sent her packing.

So now my mom only have a weekly helper that she pays and doesnt live in our home.so their are advantages and disadvantages when it comes to having a in-live house help.

Angolobabe:


When he got married my mom got another house girl she was about 16 or 17 yrs old, as soon as they employed her ,my family started having various problems and then she confessed one day in the church that she is a witch and the caused of most of our problems they sent her packing.

Oh, please shut up.

my parents worked all the time. saturday and sunday my mom does all the cookings, when the soup is out, even at night, she still fixed something for the next day. if no light, we warm the soup. if the soup is sour, she made another soup. sometime she got up early in the morning. as we grew, we helped out.

one thing i saw was that some of the women using house help don't work. they spent the day visiting friends and gossiping. while omo odo roamed around shopping only to come back home for beating.

[/quote]
When he got married my mom got another house girl she was about 16 or 17 yrs old, as soon as they employed her ,my family started having various problems and then she confessed one day in the church that she is a witch and the caused of most of our problems they sent her packing.
[quote]

Please spare me with this church say na witch, why your church no comot the witch for her body. This home video way some people dey watch don turn their head, so the new one will restore wealth in your family. you better keep quiet before i slap u now.

I'd say both. A lady to help look after the children and a man to do the house work.

It's controversial but in this age where both man and wife are working, I think if one can afford it and treat the staff well, why not? Let's not be hypocritical, are there that many jobs out there for everyone in Nigeria and what is so bad about being a maid? It is the name of a profession no matter how bad it might sound to some. A Nigerian help whose life is been bettered by being schooled, provided with regular meals with a roof over their head hasn't got it too bad.

In the so called slavery free Europe/America, people are doing much worse work for their oyinbo (white) bosses and sometimes oyinbo to oyinbo. There was a reality programme on TV recently about trialling home helps before hiring them in the UK (thankfully all white folks) and there was a lady who expected them to be up from 6am until midnight everyday except Saturdays when they had their day off and were not even expected to be in the house at all so she could have time alone with her family. All for minimum wage. And you might say the minimum wage in the UK is better than Nigeria, but these people spend their money here and it is a pittiance.

Also, what about us working class "slaves" who have to spend hours on end at work keeping busy whether you really are or not for 8-12hrs of the productive part of the day - is it not all slavery at the end of the day?

*Hauwa*:

my parents worked all the time. saturday and sunday my mom does all the cookings, when the soup is out, even at night, she still fixed something for the next day. if no light, we warm the soup. if the soup is sour, she made another soup. sometime she got up early in the morning. as we grew, we helped out.

one thing i saw was that some of the women using house help don't work. they spent the day visiting friends and gossiping. while omo odo roamed around shopping only to come back home for beating.

If your daddy comes back early he goes to pot, warm the soup and make garri for himself. I bet, your mum will be coming home late daily.

i support the views of all the women who prefer male house boys, coz really these girls can never be trusted. What i can not do though, is employ anyone below the age of 15, boy or girl, those kids are too young and supposed to be in school, and in any case is there not a law against child labour

Sometimes, these house girls and house boys often react to the way they are being treated.

Imagine treating a housegirl or houseboy as though they are less human, that's the lot of most Nigerians when it comes to house boy/ house girl.

This issue is not as black and white as it seems. I believe the issue is not whether you have a house girl/boy but rather HOW you treat them. If you treat them with respect and dignity and pay them well enough to meet and surpass their needs then it really is not wrong. The problem in Naija, as I have seen from many people who have house boys/girls is that they don't pay them well, they degrade them and to be quite honest treat them like they are pieces of garbage.

It really pisses me off to see the way some people talk to their houseboys and girls. I mean, if these same people were spoken to by their bosses/ employers in that manner, I m sure they would pack their bags and quit. Also, to all the people calling it slavery, um would you also say that nannies, Au pairs, butlers and servants here in North America are also being enslaved?? Some of these people are getting paid beyond minimum wage (they make more than the average person working at wal-mart etc)! Most people here can not even afford to employ them nannies, butlers etc.

Again, the real issue should be how people treat their house helps. If they are children, efforts should be made to ensure that they are getting their education. Unfortunately, the mentality of many Nigerians is one in which people get pleasure out of making others feel beneath them!

I don't believe i'm an hypocrite if I refuse to hire house helps. Though I grew up with them being around me, as soon as I clocked 9 years, I started doing things myself. I refused to let the house helps wash my clothes or do other things for me. Today, I'm better for it. The truth is some people today do not have a good work ethic because they depended on house helps to do things for them in their formative years.

The solution to the house help menace in Nigeria is for industrious individuals, to open up Agencies that will supply ' busy' couples and families with trained and vetted househelps who will not neccessarily live with their employers.  They will be paid weekly or monthly through these Agencies. House helps have caused a lot of damage to Nigerian families in the past. Some brought in Armed Robbers, some stole their employer's property, others came with spiritual problems etc etc

As for me, I believe couples should create the time to do their chores. And when the wife is pregnant, her sister or other family members can come and help out. Cheers.

Redman44:

I don't believe i'm an hypocrite if I refuse to hire house helps. Though I grew up with them being around me, as soon as I clocked 9 years, I started doing things myself. I refused to let the house helps wash my clothes or do other things for me. Today, I'm better for it. The truth is some people today do not have a good work ethic because they depended on house helps to do things for them in their formative years.

The solution to the house help menace in Nigeria is for industrious individuals, to open up Agencies that will supply ' busy' couples and families with trained and vetted househelps who will not neccessarily live with their employers. They will be paid weekly or monthly through these Agencies. House helps have caused a lot of damage to Nigerian families in the past. Some brought in Armed Robbers, some stole their employer's property, others came with spiritual problems etc etc

As for me, I believe couples should create the time to do their chores. And when the wife is pregnant, her sister or other family members can come and help out. Cheers.

When she is pregnant you should keep on doing the job, You do not need a temporary house help!!! Also when you turn 70 you will need to watch your cloths yourself too, Macho Man lol

kar, but do you think that is the best when you have your children to take care of,or dont you know that you children is your future for 2moro, if you give then a good training and not that of a house help, or boy

what does this mean?

what isnt best?

I grew up with maids in my house, it would have been impossible otherwise. My mother works full time and so does my dad, there couldn't have been anything else to do but hire a maid as I am the only one.

Weird. I thought you had siblings.

Really it's all about age.