Is this allowed where you live ?

[habibihabibi]

Job, Classified and Social media advertisements specifying age, gender and nationality ?
In the Middle (ages) East is it so common.
E.g. Female receptionist
required 20-30years.
House to rent to Asians
only.
Filipino driver needed.
Room available to
executive Indian male.

No, though I suspect that posting the ad in a particular paper / shop window in a particular language would have the same filtering effect, and I often see "Work wanted" ads where people describe themselves in similarly specific details

I live in Canada and have seen newspaper ad’s for shared rental; women only as well as Asian only.
The college my son attended had a large residence, my son water a single one bed apartment (after 2 years of being in a quad). I was told the singles were reserved for women of a certain faith who’s fathers would kill them if they were in shared accommodation.
All illegal requests

It was, in the UAE when I lived there. At least , you often saw those kinds of ad.

No, that would be illegal where I live in the US. There is a specific law in California that says landlords cannot discriminate on the basis of religion or race.

Why do you ask? It would be illegal in the UK too as far as I know.

In Korea it’s pretty normal, although it is starting to change. Very normal to have jobs offered to white people only for teaching, although they tend not to directly advertise that these days. I have black friends who’ve been told that the children would be ‘scared’ of them; in fact, as a white person, I’ve been told the same. It’s totally accepted here that children will be scared of any non-Korean person (though in reality, I’ve never had a child be scared of me.)

Advertising for only women/men or people under 30 is also totally normal and acceptable. Still very gender segregated here, women should be weak, fragile and give up their jobs to have babies. Men are strong and hard-working and support the family.

It grinds.

E.g. Female receptionist
required 20-30years
House to rent to Asians
only
Filipino driver needed
Room available to
executive Indian male

Yep, its all perfectly normal where I live and apart from the advert for the receptionist and house to rent to Asians alone its easily explained. But you know that because you've been around the ME for years.

Filipino Driver needed? Usually because of the English. If the person doesn't speak Arabic then the next requirement for a local family is good English and thats more than likely to be spoken by Filipinos. There's also their level of education. A Filipino driver is more likely to have a better standard of education than someone from another country who's a driver. It would be my preference despite the fact someone who works for me, someone I could never imagine not being part of my family and day to day life, has been with me 30 years and is not from the Phillipines. Everyone else is though because of specific needs we have as a family and I deliberately employed them because they are Filipinos.

The greater majority of expat families are unlikely to be in the position to need a driver so the add doesn't really apply to them and if it did I'm sure they'd have their preferences also.

Room available to Executive Indian Male? An ad placed by another Indian who wants someone of the same background living with them. Its very common in that community. The Caste System is alive and well even when practiced in kind by people from other sections of the community who aren't Hindu.

In fact I would say the ad for the house is also along these lines. The owner (and it doesn't have to be a local given that Expats can now buy property in most of the Gulf) probably knows the market so he's making sure that of the people who would rent the house he gets a family in it rather than it being turned into a house for single people.

As for them having to be Asian? It could be for any reason including the obvious or the fact that people from particular communities set up little areas where they only want their own people around them just like the executive bachelors do. They speak to the owner of a vacant property when it comes on the market and say would you please rent your property to a family who are just like us and from the same place as us because we want this to be a family area. In fact its the norm for people to have friends/families/ colleagues waiting for the next property to become available given the popularity of these living arrangements.

Not technically allowed here (Australia) but it takers other forms.

For instance if someone wants to rent to Chinese only they would put the ad in the local Chinese newspaper in Chinese. Obviously they would not specify Chinese only as that is against the law but of course it filters everyone else out.

Same, some jobs may only be advertised in a local Indian paper for instance.

What has surprised me recently is that on a number of properties (new build units and established houses) the For Sale sign is entirely in Chinese. I would have thought that was illegal but apparently not. Those places are also not routinely listed on the 'general' for sale sites either but on sites in Chinese so I'm guessing it's only realistically possible for Chinese people or Australians with Chinese background to buy them.

There are other ways to weed people out that are universal. For instance if a place wants a receptionist that is female up to 30yo they cannot specify this in the ad but will obviously not employ the overweight 45 year old guy that applies and if challenged would respond with some twaddle (that could not be disproved) about the other candidate being better suited to the organisation/culture whatever so discrimination would never hold.

the For Sale sign is entirely in Chinese.

Im thinking of a very smart development here where entire streets have been bought up expats from a particular background. Of course the developers knew what was going on but what are they supposed to do when a group approach them and they say we're family and we're settled here and we want to live next door to our family so we'll have 20 houses. Of course they may not even be related at all - at least not by blood but certainly by other things.

I do have to say though that the situation here is nothing like what it is in New Zealand for instance. Our property market is protected for nationals and Expats can only buy in 3 specific developments along with nationals. There's nothing like driving along the road outside of those developments and saying 'oh I think I'll put an offer in on that house'. It just can't be done.

Seen regularly, not sure about legality.
It is, however, illegal to employ anyone other than a national of the country in an ever increasing list of professions - the most recent was hire cars. So on the day the law came in, half the car rental places in the country were closed, because they didn't have staff...
I'm just over the boarder from you, in the ME, so probably explains the similarity.

Lately I've seen a change in the advertisements posted by large organisations so I thought perhaps there may be a move away from gender/age/nationality specific requirements.
If you hire domestic staff you must request permission from your employer and originally we were designated to only sponsor Filipino staff.
Lots more nationalities can come and work in Qatar than when we first arrived .

One thing I'm always curious about is when an accomdarion ad says non cooking tenant.
Is it because it's a fire hazard or that they don't want the flat to be permeated with strong cooking smells ?
As UK landlords we have to provide somewhere to cook, wash clothing and bathe.

Definitely the case in the Middle East.

Having worked in HR/recruitment, it’s brutal. They asked for a British male to fill a certain vacancy here, when I sent them 3 it was fine, all good but wouldn’t hire the best guy due to the color of his skin! Shocked me quite bit. My husband tried to hire a local lady (fab worker, brill educational background) and they wouldn’t let him ‘incase she gets sexually assulted at site’.

It’s another world

Not allowed in Italy but I have seen age specified quite often. Nationality is often requested in adverts for carers. "No foreigners" is also seen on signs of flats to rent but people have also been fined for it.

Completely the norm in UAE and in Qatar when I lived there. In terms of sharing accommodation I understand it, most people would want to live with people they have things in common with, and all of the Filipina's I know love to share and cook food together, so they will want someone to participate in that. When I was in uni in Canada it wasn't uncommon to see international students advertising for roommates from their background.

Also by specifying a nationality, you know what wage bracket they are expecting, what education & English/Arabic level you're likely to get, etc. Filipino's/na's are in high demand.

One thing I'm always curious about is when an accomdarion ad says non cooking tenant
Is it because it's a fire hazard or that they don't want the flat to be permeated with strong cooking smells ?
As UK landlords we have to provide somewhere to cook, wash clothing and bathe

I would say thats when a property is to be used for people sharing and because of cultural dietary requirements its a non cooking apartment. And that does suit some people, usually single people, because they can then eat in places where their dietary needs needs are met.

I was in Dubai recently and they buffet breakfast was amazing in that when I went to have a Dosa for my breakfast there was a separate area for what looked like typical Indian food but when I asked why it was set a little bit apart and had a label on it I was told it didn't have garlic or onions in it. It was explained why and it makes not wanting to share a kitchen with someone who'd cook with onions and garlic understandable if your faith meant a lot to you.

I doubt very much 'non cooking tennant' would apply to someone renting from the outset. But thats not to say it couldn't happen and I think if it did it would be because it suited the person and there was going to be subletting of rooms and sofas going on. There would be no room for people to cook and yes, not could be a fire or environmental risk.

Lately I've seen a change in the advertisements posted by large organisations so I thought perhaps there may be a move away from gender/age/nationality specific requirements

Where I live the move is very much towards employing nationals in the real sense, not like other places where its just paid lip service to for various reasons, so I don't really see the adverts for other nationalities. We still do have and still need expats though.

Employing other nationalities? It can actually be very difficult to get workers from other countries for various reasons including it being a bureaucratic nightmare at their end. And whilst it is a bit of a nightmare for a Filipino trying to get out of the Phillipines (even to go on holiday because the government is really suspicious and thinks they're sneaking away to work somewhere) once you've waded though their system you can see it really does work for all involved unlike other systems abroad

‘incase she gets sexually assulted at site’

Thats really interesting because where I live we even have national women working in the oil and gas industry and based in interior locations. In fact, and it really is a fact, the majority of our graduates are women (and very ambitious).

But I do realise Im coming at this conversation from decades of local knowledge and experience of life within the community and it may be quite difficult to believe some of what I say because its not what a person would expect to hear.

Thats really interesting because where I live we even have national women working in the oil and gas industry and based in interior locations. In fact, and it really is a fact, the majority of our graduates are women (and very ambitious).

Same here. My workplace is 60% local female engineers, the vast majority of whom work on-site. While they do ensure female only accommodation and buses, most of them are in the trenches with the men every day. While I know there are families that worry about that kind of thing, none of the big organizations do, they go out of their way to hire women and make sure they are happy.

@TeisanLap - yep, that was the explaination given to him. In his company, female engineers etc work but only in their office, not on site (I’m not sure of the percentage). I do know male expat site workers who have been sexually assulted on the island I live in, so it wouldn’t be an unlikely thing to happen. I’ll point out - my DH had no problems in hiring a female to do the job, but his bosses did. Where I live it is definitely not as high as 60% of females in the construction sector (nor anywhere I know?).

I’ve lived here 5 years, not long compared to other expats but I’ve heard very very similar stories from other people as well. It’s horrible, I’m not a fan of pay people different wages as one person is from Kerala and another is from the Philippines.

Where I live it is definitely not as high as 60% of females in the construction sector (nor anywhere I know?).

They aren't in construction, though at the moment it is a construction site. They're engineer's overseeing some very specialized work.

Shutup, I believe that’s what he was told which is a shame really considering the girl and her family were obviously forward thinking enough for her to be in that career.

Apologies @TheHulksPurplePants my DH works in an oil and gas based construction firm aka, they do the maintenance of pipes etc. so there isn’t as high a % of females.

@Teisanlap it’s very sad, esp as they are suppose to be supporting women in the work place here.

Yes, we have it in Malaysia, perfectly legal and very common

Chinese only
Malay only

lower interest rates for Malays for mortgages and business loans
Higher scholarships with lower requirements for Malays
Foreigners charged higher deposits and rentals

I'm very down on Malaysia at the moment.

Not allowed in HK ( albeit it’s a recent change) but there are ways round it- like if you don’t want a westerner just write in Chinese or say they must speak fluent Cantonese. Also there’s quite a lot of ‘must be a personal advocate for the brand’ ( read: hot, young, cool people only). I have seen adverts for domestic helpers specifying nationality but I’ve also seen adverts by helpers stating ‘western family preferred’ etc. ‘Chinese driver’ ( ie not Filipino) is quite common for those who don’t want visa dramas and don’t want a live- in driver. .

‘western family preferred’ etc'

I think people can forget its a two way street.

I'm in Dubai and I see it a lot. But as a PP said, it can also work both ways. For example, our Filipina nanny has said she will only work with European/American families - she has had several bad experiences with Arab clients and is quite adamant that she will never work for them again.