I have a live-in house-keeper who does all the housework. Ask me anything

[Expatworkingmum]

Not meant to be showy in any way. I'm not rolling in money, I just live overseas where this is completely normal. There's a fair few expats here so I'm probably not the only one.

But yes, we have a house-keeper. She does all the housework, any childcare we need and cooks for us.

Very, very fortunate.

grey Have you lived in any culture that has live in staff? What solutions are you proposing for their situation?
The maids we employed had very little literacy and education, they could have stayed working in their rural communities but chose not too.
There are broad employment changes and education changes that could be implemented by governments but on a micro level the most effective way to help is good local pay and conditions.
It is pretty patronizing to country you are living in to arrive and announce you know better than they do so they should all start running things the way you think is best.
I hope the country I lived in gives better life chances to its rural poor who are fed up with what they are given.
But not employing anyone would have led to two individuals remaining impoverished rather than having a chance to build their own house for their families.
It is also important to understand that it isn't just domestic servants that have low wages, wages are very low in whole communities as are the costs of many goods, housing etc.

But nobody has spoken about being an humanitarian aid worker trying to support rural communities out of poverty.

turnips

The solution I offered was outlined very clearly in my post. Contract good terms and conditions for your staff rather than forcing them into the position of their employer choosing to play Lady Bountiful. For example, OP spoke about how she wouldn't dream of docking sick pay (clearly thinking this made her a good person). But it shouldn't be down to what your employer would dream of. It should be contracted in as a right.

There used to be a third class train ticket in Britain. This was in open air carriages. When Parliament was debating banning these third class tickets there were MPs who argued that the poor liked having these cheap tickets and anyway, they were more able to cope with the open air tickets. Arguments from you and OP are reminding me of those MPs. There is nothing to stop OP from giving her staff the same employment contract and protections that she would expect for herself.