Why Yayas/Maids/Kasambahays should be paid much MORE:

Most Filipinos families pay their stay-in house help 1,500-3,000 pesos a month. Less than what they spend on Starbucks & eating out or buying new clothes (or in some cases, what they spend on their dogs). This very wrong, but it’s such a common practice that it’s accepted. We constantly complain about how evil government officials & rich corporations are, but so much injustice takes place in our homes. We may not use whips on our house help or have them sleep in dungeons, but the wages we pay are terribly unfair and borderline abusive.

“But it’s not like they have to work all day, they watch Eat Bulaga after lunch & Teleseryes at night!”

They are never off the clock. From waking up early in the morning to prepare breakfast to washing the dishes after dinner, to opening the gate at 3 am when “Ser” comes home from a night out. Don’t you find it wrong when your office calls you on weekends to prepare something for Monday, or make you do overtime with no pay? Also, when you are at the office chatting with friends or browsing Facebook or have any idle time, do you count that as not being at work thereby adding time to your 8 hour shift? The same kind of consideration has to be given to house help.

“But they get free food & lodging, they don’t have to spend on anything!”

The free food & lodging does not compensate the low wages because they get no real privacy. Can they bring home their boyfriends & have sex in their room? Can they invite their friends or have a family reunion at the sala? Mams & Sers won’t allow that!

“But we take them with us when we go to the mall to eat at fancy restaurants & watch movies they should be grateful!”

You bring them with you to still be Yayas. They are still working.

“But they did not finish or even go to school!”

How many people are earning in fields that they did not go to school for? People earn from what they actually do, not because of a diploma. If school were a requirement for wages then Manny Paquiao should not earn much, neither should singers & actors or accounting graduates who transfer to creative industries.

“But what they do isn’t so valuable, they are just at home!”

The responsibility is immense. Surely someone guarding your baby so you can work or watch a movie is worth much more. We should put value on the trust. When you have come to trust your house help, reward that. This beauty pageant quote says it the best:

“The educated people of the world have somehow denigrated the true sense and meaning of what a nanny (yaya) is. Let me tell you what she is. She is someone who gives more than she takes. She is someone you trust to look after the very people most precious to you - your child, the elderly, yourself. She is the one who has made a living out of caring and loving other people.”

“But they are not complaining & the money we pay them helps their families!”

All the more reasons you should pay better. It’s good karma. 

When people move abroad they can survive with out house help because manpower is expensive & paid for by the hour. Granted we can’t afford to do that here, but we have a moral obligation to try harder. You know how you hate it when the executives of your company deny you a raise, citing a bad economy or whatever but they spend their weekends on yacht clubs & drive cars more expensive than your house? Imagine what your maid would feel when they see the price tag of your PS3 or your new dress from Zara. At 3000 pesos a month & 26 days of work (assuming they get Sundays off) they get about 115 pesos a day, that’s less than your tall mocha frappucino.

“But what can I do, I am just a kid?”

You can talk to your parents about this. If they will not listen, you can still do a lot. You may not be able to raise your house help’s salary but you can greatly lessen their work. Do not bother them in the evening or ask them to do anything on weekends. Clean your own room & wash your own dishes & clothes. Encourage your siblings to do the same.

Someday you will move out of your parent’s house & you would need to do these things as well on your own. When you can afford to pay for house help, remember this little blog post : )

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Please share this post or write a shorter version of your own : )

Also read up on the Kasambahay Law , though the wages stated there are pitiful, health care & other benefits are mandatory, which is good.

On a tangent, do read this proposal for world domination by Jessica Zafra.

(I apologize for all the typos & bad grammar of this post, I’m terrible at copy editing)