Moors, Jureidini, Özbay, Sabban 155workers. Though most migrant domestics in the Dubai are from countries
such as India and Indonesia, there are also substantial numbers of work-
ers from the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Ethiopia.^11
urkey, with a much larger population, offers a contrast to the Arab T
Middle East. Not only is it much less influenced by the Middle Eastern oil
economy, but it also has its own history as a labor exporter (to Europe). It
is true that the tendency for Turkish middle- and upper-class households
to employ domestic workers is widespread, but most of these households
employ Turkish women as day workers.^12 Further, most migrant domestic
workers in Turkey are not from Asia but from the former Soviet republics.
The small contingent of Filipinas in Turkey is mainly employed by corpo-
rate executives and other internationals.^13 The Turkish upper middle-class
households, in contrast, tend to prefer Moldavian domestics, especially
the Gagauz, a group of Christian-Turkish origin who are not only seen as
well educated, obedient, and professional, but also combine their ability to
speak Turkish with an image of Western modernity.^14 Moldavian domes-
tics are also preferred over Turkish domestics, as the latter either refuse to
work as live-ins (or would demand higher payment to do so) and are, in
the eyes of their employers, far less “professional”: they “do not keep their
distance,” attempt to personalize their relations with employers to gain
additional benefits, and have their own families to care for.^15
n Lebanon and other countries in the central Middle East such as I
Jordan, the development of the new middle classes—in some cases influ-
enced by the lifestyles in the Gulf states—has engendered a rapid increase
in the number of migrant domestic workers. It is true that some local
women, often refugees, women from ethnic minorities, or women from
marginalized areas, still engage in paid domestic labor, yet their number
is small and decreasing. Both in Lebanon and in Jordan most migrant
domestic workers are from Sri Lanka (so much so that the Arabic term
for “migrant domestic worker” has become srῑlānkiyya), while some of the
wealthier households also employ Filipinas, some of whom were pushed
out of nursing when this sector was closed to foreign labor. In Lebanon a
considerable number of Ethiopians are being employed, while in Jordan
the number of Indonesian domestic workers is rapidly increasing.^16
f the first precondition for migrant women to become present in I
the public is the ability to enter their country of employment, a second