Calgarian

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to get opinion on this issue (without upsetting anybody). Cause in my opinion yes it is. One of the employer asked me why should he hire me when he can hire three indians with the same salary he is going to pay me. Second employer said that they really like me but they dont like canadian cause we have our own lifestyle. Most of the locals that I met there were pretty rude( I apologize to the locals here not hitting on them directly just telling my experience) till they find out that I am not from India or Pakistan. So I am asking for your personal experiences.

One more thing why it is common to ask for religion and age? Cause you can get sued in Canada if employer asked for your religion? Any thoughts

Khan

DanMarsden

Hey mate,

The Middle East is a very biased (if not utterly racist) region. The lower classes not so much, but the middle and upper classes are quite racist, partly because they feel in a position to "order" people around. For example, in Lebanon, Sri Lankans and Filippinos get jobs as stay-in house-cleaners and nannies. They are treated literally like slaves in the home. The Sri Lankan woman who stayed at our neighbour's place almost went mad and tied bed sheets and escaped from the balcony at night. :scared: When the Lebanese see Filippinos or Sri Lankans or Indians, they immediately think "housekeeper".

Yeah, it's common for employers in the Middle East to ask such questions as religion and age. They have a different mentality compared to the Western one.

Face81

we have been down this road b4 ppl............ lets not start this up again. PLEASE. Khans experience is errrrrrrrrrrrr........... interesting. I cant imagine y they have stuff like that about Canadians. hmmmmmmmmmm..........

But anyway........ moving along swiftly, Dubai is a racist city........ we all know this.

End this now.

Lets not argue. PLEASE.

DanMarsden

No one is arguing.

Tami2

For once I agree with Dan. And no one is arguing about it Face. Dubai, like most other cities in the Arab parts of the middle east (I've lived in Saudi Arabia, and visited, Dubai, Bahrain, and Abu Dhabi) are extremely racist, classist and religiously biased. Everyone knows that your salary is based first on your passport, then on your education and experience. There were PhD engineers from many countries working with my husband in Riyadh for a huge Saudi petrochemical company. The highest salaries were reserved for those with North American (Canada, too) and European passports...then a succession of other passports and at the very bottom of the pecking order, were the Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, etc. passport holders. Of course, after passport, it also had to do with where you received your degree. But the point is, even at the executive or research engineer level, there is a completely different payscale based on passport.

I also agree that most Arabs think it is their Allah-given right to treat some people like animals, particularly if these people have the misfortune to work for them in the capacity of maid, gardener, driver, etc. That said, when we lived in Riyadh, the biggest jerks on the compound, those who treated the Indian and Pakistani staff the worst, were a Pakistani family who had lived in the KSA for a number of years and had their degrees from Pakistan but had somehow gotten British passports. For some reason, these *ssholes don't regard the staff as human beings. This is why so many maids run away or committ suicide in the KSA. You won't see it in the news, but it happens every day.

Religious bias is another fact of life in any Moslem country. If you are Moslem, you have an edge over someone with the same qualifications who is not Moslem. Is this unfair? Of course it is to those of us who are accustomed to religious freedom. But again, there are no anti-descrimination laws in this part of the world, so we just have to deal with it or leave. No one forced any of us to come to Dubai, and we have to put up with some forms of descrimination in order to live here. Believe me, there are countries in the region that are 10 times worse than Dubai. At least here, the women can drive, hold a job, and don't have to wear hijab anytime they leave their house.

One other note, before anyone decides to jump on me about mentioning specifically Arabs and Arab countries, that is because I've also spent a significant amount of time in Iran, and the Persians have none of these prejudices with regard to religion. They don't really have much in the way of service staff from other countries there, so there's no way to compare that situation.

Just my opinion guys, not looking for an argument.

DanMarsden

And when I said "region", I did not say which countries, so I don't see why we have to single out Arab or Muslim countries..

Tami2

Not too many countries in the "region" would qualify as non-Arab and/or non-Moslem, so I think we all know what we're talking about.
And I can only comment on the countries I've seen first hand.

Face81

I already agreed with what u have sed........ see my above post. I just dont want there to be anymore trouble on here....... we already had a slaughter the other day :scared:

DanMarsden

What's your point? It's not about the numbers. Heck, you know what happened when ONE man took over Germany, don't you... Racism is racism, and there's no excuse for it. Apologists for racists are lame.

Tami2

Translation please...

LakesLassie

Agree with Face (again :scared: ) on this. Every country is racist to a certain degree and every religion is biased. Dubai is by no means the worst on either count. Can we leave it at that?

Found any snow yet Face? Told you before - head up to my neck of the woods at the weekend & you're chances will imrove.

Tami2

You guys sound like my husband LOL
He calls it an argument; I call it a discussion! It's all in your point of view. I don't want to argue, more like debate? Isn't that allowed here anymore?

novita77

I N T E R E S T I N G ! ! ! Go on carry on ...

Tami2

Hi Novi,
What's up, hon? How's Jelly/Jools after all the fuss this weekend? I'm not really trying to pull anyone's chain, but I think it could be an interesting discussion if everyone could make calm observations insted of angry cuts, you know? Maybe that's just not possible any more?

LakesLassie

I just don't see what can be gained by raising this old chestnut again. We all know we all have our own views - we don't necessarily need to stick them on a public forum to have them validated.

I think there's been enough confrontation on here recently. Can't we stick to sexual innuendo instead?!