In today’s Gulf Times, a local paper, a headline proclaimed “Cabinet takes up bachelors’ housing issue.” I was pleased to see it because I thought the cabinet was looking for more humane housing options for these “bachelors.” The “bachelors” in question are expatriate workers who come to Qatar (and United Arab Emirates) for short periods of time to work. Usually contracts are for three years. The vast majority of the low-wage “bachelors” are from poor Southeast Asian countries (Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc.) In fact most of these “bachelors” are married with children back in their home country and they send most of their meager salaries back home.
I don’t have the statistics available, but relative to the local population, there are huge numbers of these men living in groups as single men (i.e., without women). In many cases, they live and work in appalling conditions for not much money, although apparently more money than they would get back home. (Another aspect to this problem is that agencies back in their home countries promise them better jobs, wages, and working conditions than they actually receive. The workers also usually have to pay a fee to these agencies in order to get these jobs.)
So when I saw the headline, I thought the cabinet was working to improve living conditions for these workers. Alas, I was mistaken. I will reproduce chunks of the article:
“The Cabinet yesterday took necessary measures to issue a draft law to prohibit single workers’ accommodation in ‘family residential areas.. . . Many families had complained about the bachelors’ lifestyle, which they said did not conform to Islamic as well as Qatari traditions and principles. They also complained about the dirt and filth from such labour campus contributing to the proliferation of rodents and insects. The members of the municipal council have suggested five alternative areas where single workers can be housed as specified by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Urban Planning. The recommended areas included Shemal, Shahaniya, Wakrah and Messaeid.” (in other words, out in the desert, where the rich people don’t have to see them.)
Another result of the “bachelor problem” is the invention of “Family Day” at the mall. Fridays are days off for workers. Lots of people in these desert countries spend days off in the mall because it is climate controlled. Qataris were afraid that the malls would be inundated with thousands of single men who couldn’t afford to spend money. Thus, they came up with “family day” law. You can’t go to the mall on Fridays unless you are a “family.” Apparently I, a white woman, can go by myself. (A woman is a family unto herself?) but men can’t (unless they are white and prosperous looking.) It’s all about conforming to Islamic and Qatari traditions and principles.
I don’t have the statistics available, but relative to the local population, there are huge numbers of these men living in groups as single men (i.e., without women). In many cases, they live and work in appalling conditions for not much money, although apparently more money than they would get back home. (Another aspect to this problem is that agencies back in their home countries promise them better jobs, wages, and working conditions than they actually receive. The workers also usually have to pay a fee to these agencies in order to get these jobs.)
So when I saw the headline, I thought the cabinet was working to improve living conditions for these workers. Alas, I was mistaken. I will reproduce chunks of the article:
“The Cabinet yesterday took necessary measures to issue a draft law to prohibit single workers’ accommodation in ‘family residential areas.. . . Many families had complained about the bachelors’ lifestyle, which they said did not conform to Islamic as well as Qatari traditions and principles. They also complained about the dirt and filth from such labour campus contributing to the proliferation of rodents and insects. The members of the municipal council have suggested five alternative areas where single workers can be housed as specified by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Urban Planning. The recommended areas included Shemal, Shahaniya, Wakrah and Messaeid.” (in other words, out in the desert, where the rich people don’t have to see them.)
Another result of the “bachelor problem” is the invention of “Family Day” at the mall. Fridays are days off for workers. Lots of people in these desert countries spend days off in the mall because it is climate controlled. Qataris were afraid that the malls would be inundated with thousands of single men who couldn’t afford to spend money. Thus, they came up with “family day” law. You can’t go to the mall on Fridays unless you are a “family.” Apparently I, a white woman, can go by myself. (A woman is a family unto herself?) but men can’t (unless they are white and prosperous looking.) It’s all about conforming to Islamic and Qatari traditions and principles.
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