Most Somalis outside the West have non-Muslim domestic workers but you never hear such abuse. Most Somali families take care of them and support them, even after they are gone.
Yeah i actually pointed this out while sharing a study. We don't have slave-lord relationship with those we employ for domestic work.
The relatively decent treatment of Ethiopian maids in Djibouti compared to
the slave-lord relationship we hear happening in the Middle East, is due to the
exposure of Djiboutians to ‘other types’ of Ethiopians beyond the likes of us,
the maids.
Culturally, we don’t have a system that rigidly separates people into dependency classes like serfs. Relationships are more exchange-based, and hierarchies are bureaucratic rather than personal.
The “exposure” explanation often cited for why abuses happen in the UAE or Saudi Arabia doesn’t make sense. There, Somalis are highly visible in business and professional sectors. A quick search for “Al-Somali” on Google or LinkedIn shows thousands of Somalis in high-level professional and public sector roles:
So, for UAE/Saudi employers to treat Ethiopian maids abusively especially considering they could be mistaken for or pass as Somali points to deep rooted cultural factors rather than mere lack of exposure.
In Somalia, Djibouti, NFD, or Eastleigh, domestic workers can often leave after a day’s work. In contrast, in Saudi Arabia or UAE, they may be imprisoned, tied up, and abused.
But i think the reasons why is that certain Non-Muslim Africans and Southeast Asians have no independent mechanisms to earn a living, unlike Somalis, who often find ways to trade, start businesses, and access communal support. Without such systems, many are forced into situations where abuse becomes a means of survival.