People who advertise specifically for a Fillipino housekeeper or nanny

[RahRahRachel]

Firstly, I'm not even sure that it's legal to specify a nationality in a job advert!

Secondly, why do people want Fillipinos specifically? Part of me thinks it is because they believe Fillipinos have a quieter, more subservient nature than European women Not at all true of the Fillipino women I know by the way!

And on the flip side of the coin, why do millions of Fillipinos apply for jobs that say "MUST have UK work visa to be considered for this job".

Why why why?

So, actually, I can't understand why anyone would need to specify "filipino" because rest assured they will come a runnin'.

I also think they must be a bit dim as it is filipina for a woman (or maybe they want men)

I would never ask for one

We had one in the Philippines and she was a DRAGON.

Being a Filipina, i can begin to guess....

1. most filipino women who apply to be domestic helpers typically have degrees ( in the Philippines, so not quite oxford but they will be literate and pretty bilingual and can follow instructions well). Because of the family structure in the philippines, (where children do not live the parents' home until they are married themselves, sometimes, not even - if financial circumstances prevent them from doing so) - most women grow up with children around them.
2. typical behaviour is quite subservient - they will follow instructions and do the best they can but will never for one second think that you will be their friend. So, most would have the "speak when spoken to" type attitude so likely to give the family a lot of their own privacy.
3. Fiercely Catholic - so apart from Church on Sundays and hanging out with their friends after, that is the typical social scene for this women.
4. Families at home - Women who work here typically have kids and lots of dependents at home. So most of their salary goes there (Overseas workers are considered heroes in the Phils because of the amount of dollar remittances they send home -- in fact, they have their own fast track lane at the airport). So they are typically very responsible, but tend to be very warm towards the children because they miss their own.
5. Will clean the house typically. When these women work in other countries whether it is Singapore, Hongkong, or even in the wealthier families in Manila they are on call EVERYDAY for ALL hours except for Sunday for a few hours - so they can go to Church or watch a movie. As such, the typical no working at night and free weekends here is seen as a massive blessing - and therefore they will be willing to do a lot of work on top of the usual nursery duties. And paid holidays -- blimey, now that is a true shocker for them.

Clearly, these are generalisations so there will always be exceptions to the rule. I suspect the main reason is that some families want the childcare/home help but from somebody who will be quite subservient and loyal.

By the way, my nanny is from Swindon, but as i said, i'm filipino so i know the "traits" that people think they have - which for some families, would appeal.

sorry, that's "leave" the parents' home , not live

eleusis,
they try their luck that someone would sponsor them. for some, this is the ticket out of poverty not just for them, but their entire families. infuriating for those that know they won't sponsor, but they try their luck anyway.
i know of a woman who went on holiday in dubai and the sitter there was filipina and she liked her so much that she sponsored her here and now she works for them as a nanny. these filipinas then spread the word around, and more of them try their luck....
doesn't help though when one is trying to be efficient in sifting CVs!!!

Ok, so I thought that it was pretty much impossible to sponsor a domestic worker into the country. What would one have to do to get a filipina (or any other country) into the country? Wouldn't it be time for a new nanny before she got her visa?

Oh, and the ads that say they are prepared to leave their own children behind to come and look after mine break my heart. I could never hire someone knowing it was keeping her from her own children.

I have never looked into it myself because i know what a T-E-D-I-O-U-S process the whole thing is, having gone through the process myself - any my company was sponsoring me, plus i was married to a brit!
Sadly, this is the case with most filipina overseas workers - i.e. they leave their family behind because what they will earn here is probably 50x what they will earn in Manila, so their kids can go to better schools etc and they have a better shot at breaking the chain of poverty..... but agree, all terribly depressing

I would hire a filipina in a second if I could because I love their family-orientated attitude and their catholicism. I used to work a lot in Asia and the filipina nannies I met all seemed to give me the impression that they would give their lives for their charges (ok, maybe I have romantisised this a bit, but you get the gist). And though I agree with the sadness of having them work for me while their own kids are being brought up without them, I've seen the kind of conditions that some of them work in in Hong Kong (a nanny sleeping in a working airing cupboard was the worst case I saw), and I know that at least I would be providing a filipina with a good life and a fare home regularly, and paying her enough to give her kids a better life.

I used to think that using people from poorer nations as staff was incredibly derogatory, but then I lived in Africa and discovered how much of a difference my pittance of a wage made to people (literally life and death when my maid's husband had a stroke and would have died if we hadn't been able to pay for him to go to hospital). I absolutley hate the disparity between nations, but giving people from poorer countries work is in my eyes enabling them rather than exploiting them....

Or maybe I just twist my views to suit my preferred position... can't really answer that one.

The problem though is that although I would sponsor a filipina in a heartbeat, I have been told it is simply not possible - I was told by the immigration department that they are simply not allowed visa's to work as nannies in the UK? I will be first in the line if I am wrong about this....

In Toronto, it seems like all the nannies are filipina. Maybe it's just what people are used to?

In Spain, since the 60's there were many upper class families that would have filipin maids and a British nanny (called Nurses)

Not sure about the fact that a nationality shoudn;t be requested. If I am Spanish and would like an Spanish nanny for my daughter for cultural reasons I don;t see why I should't.

I think if you specify - Must speak Spanish, or Native Spanish speaker that would be ok as it could be part of the job, not sure about specifying just a nationality though.

Page62 - thanks, I think you're right. I had a job interview once for a woman that employed a Filipina housekeeper and she said to me "I always employ Filipinas, they're so quiet and calm and suited to housekeeping". Something about that makes me feel a bit uncomfortable.

Page62 - I (very dimly) have just realised who you are and what your name means [duh emoticon]

It appears that job adverts are supposed to conform to the Race Relations act
^In particular please note:
? The Race Relations Act 1976 (as amended) in the UK makes it unlawful for a person to publish or cause to be published an advertisement which indicates an intention to discriminate against others on the grounds of their race, colour, nationality or ethnic or national origin. The Commission for Racial Equality has the power to take legal action against an advertiser or publisher of an unlawful advertisement. Where you are uncertain, the CRE are keen to assist and can be contacted at [email protected]
It is also unlawful, when advertising job vacancies, to indicate an intention to discriminate on grounds of sex, marriage or age.^
Which would make almost every nanny job advert unlawful Or are private families excluded from this?

Equality Human Rights Commission on discrimination in recruitment and job advertising here if anyone is interested. Seems unlikely that a 'genuine occupational requirement' could be justified.

Of course, all you really have to do is recruit on greatuapair.com and do a search based on nationality.

But, of course, the logistics of herr the filipina through immigration might put a stop to the whole thing.

I must admit I did pick certain countries and exclude others when I did my recent nanny search.

Now, what about people who specifically hire female (or male) nannies? Are they guilty of sexual discrimination? What about the devout Catholic family who chooses one nanny over another specifically because she is christian and the other applicant was a scientologist?

RahRah - when employing people to work in your home with children, it is lawful to discriminate on the grounds of race, belief, religion & sexual orientation. Childcare is one of the few exceptions to general discrimination law (there are also certain exclusions to maximum hours directive and minumum wage directive too when it comes to nannies...)

not the best of sites but some examples here

...but I think it all depends on the individual situations...

Neal v Watts "A male applicant for a nanny post in a private home claimed sex discrimination when refused an interview although he had a recognised certificate as a nanny. The Tribunal found that the GOQ applied as he would be required to live in private premises and the job required a large degree of physical and social contact with, and knowledge of intimate details of the child's mother"

...which is a relief because I was about to pull an advert for a female AP just in case

...mind you....knowledge of intimate details of the mother sounds just the ticket in my gobi desert life..

Kewcumber, yes, it's me, previously balancingact!

i must admit, i did have certain nationalities in mind when i started interviewing nannies. Clearly the stereotypes don't always hold; having been put off by what i thought english nannies would expect me to provide her, i now employ one who i wish to keep till the kids are all in full time school (and even then she can look after me) ;-). I must admit, i tried to look for a Filipina too - but couldn't find anyone who was here who could ALSO drive -- the main driver being i wanted the kids to learn to speak Filipino -i know, i know, i should do it myself but very hard when DH doesn't know how to speak it.
So so far, my daugher knows the Filipino word for "yummy" and "armpits". wonderful.

well i have a male nanny and he doesn't know my intimate details!

hahahahha

my DD's not mine!

balancingact?! weren't you magicmonkey/mummymagic/monkeymagic somethign like that?

PS - had the concertina photos like your from Kodak gallery done for Xmas and to send to DS's orphanage - they're really lovely.

no...............
magicmonkey was the one beside me who came late....i was late, but not as late as her!