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Domestic worker

(Redirected from Butler)
"Butler" redirects here. For other meanings, see Butler (disambiguation).

A domestic worker is a servant who works within their employer's household.

In large households, there can be a large number of domestic workers doing different jobs, often as part of an elaborate hierarchy. While this type of social arrangement is all but obsolete in developed countries it can perform a useful social role in less-developed countries in distributing income. Nevertheless such elaborate hierarchies, if based around a class or caste system can perpetuate divisions and restrict social mobility.

The emancipation of middle-class women in the late 20th century and their entry into the professional workforce meant that middle-class households were deprived of an important source of unpaid domestic labour. This has given rise to a sharp rise in the employment of cleaners and nannies.

A butler is a senior domestic worker, whose duties traditionally included handling the wines of the household and some management of the other servants. Female domestic workers are often called maids.

Domestic workers perform typical domestic chores such as cooking, ironing, washing, cleaning the house, buying foods and drinking, accompanying the female head of the household for grocery shopping, taking the family dog for a walk, and taking care of children. In some countries, maids replace the role of a nurse in taking care of the elderly and people with disabilities. Maids often are expected to work at least fifteen hours per day.

Many countries import domestic workers from abroad through recruitment agencies and brokerers because their own nationals do not like working such an underpaid, difficult, exploitive job. This includes most Middle Eastern countries, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan. Even the People's Republic of China imports domestic workers from the Philippines. For most countries, the number of domestic workers run into the hundreds of thousands. There are at least one million domestic workers in Saudi Arabia.

Major sources of domestic workers include the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Ethiopia. Taiwan also imports domestic workers from Vietnam and Mongolia.

See also

External links

  • An article about foreign maids in Singapore http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2003/12/29/2003085584
Last updated: 02-08-2005 10:29:51
Last updated: 02-24-2005 14:23:03