Finding a domestic worker in Santiago and other parts of the Cibao is as if it were "look for a heron tooth or a needle in a honeycomb ”, because they don’t appear.
Given the shortage of Dominican women for cleaning and caring for children and the elderly in many houses, there are people who act as intermediaries, they charge money to those interested to locate people of the female sex with an interest in assuming domestic work in nursing homes. family.
But nevertheless, almost always the majority of those hired are of Haitian origin, because Dominican women do not want that type of work due to the humiliation and mistreatment that domestic workers received in the past by their employers.
“I would have liked a Dominican, but in despair I accepted a Haitian,” merchant Georgina Beltrán told Listín Diario, who says she paid 2,500 pesos to a woman who has a small business dedicated to locating hard-to-find labor .
Independent
Juana Mercedes García, a resident of the Cienfuegos sector of Santiago, declared that for a long time she has been cleaning houses in this city, but independently.
“Currently I have eleven, I charge between 1,800 and 3,000 for cleaning each house, depending on its size, there are more people who want my services, but I can’t cope because my daughter used to help me, but she got married and moved to Mao,” he emphasized Garcia.
Other women who were unemployed as a result of the pandemic, are now dedicated to cleaning houses and premises due to adjustment.
“I was suspended from a tissue store where I worked when there was a drastic reduction in staff at the beginning of the Covid-19 in 2020, desperate with three children of 9, 11 and 16 years old, I began to knock on doors in some houses and offer my cleaning services, I remember that the first job I did in the Ensueño, they gave me a thousand pesos, the job was worth more, but I had to take meals to my house “, he commented.
He argued that given the shortage of domestic workers in Santiago, other people hired them to clean their houses, wash and iron.
“I already have 15 clients, there are more people who want me to work for them, but I can’t force myself so much,” he said. Said Six months ago they called her from the store where she worked, but she rejected the offer because cleaning houses, washing and ironing independently, she earns six times more than she earned when she was employedhe commented.
Many couples with young children work and complain that they have no one to leave the care of their children with and no one to maintain the houses when they are at work.
Seeing this need, there are women in various sectors who are dedicated to taking care of children in their homes and others to washing and ironing those interested, having their own homes as their epicenter.
Occupation.
Given the refusal of many Dominicans to work as domestic workers, these tasks are being occupied by Haitian women, many of them undocumented.
Only option
“I did not want to employ a Haitian woman in my house, I preferred a Dominican, I paid a man to find me a worker, but the one who brought me is from Haiti, I had no choice but to accept her because I needed her and I have no complaints. of her ”, said Arisleyda Matías.
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