Over the past 24 hours, there have been two reported cases of maids who attempted to commit suicide in their employer's home in Kuwait.
In the first case, a Nepalese maid jumped from the roof of her employer's house on the second floor in the small town of Kairouan, in Al-Asimah Governorate. The authorities that arrived at the scene yesterday morning found the maid alive, but with multiple fractures in her legs. She was transferred to Al-Sabah Hospital for treatment and authorities are questioning what prompted the suicide, the Kuwaiti daily Al-Qabas reported - Opens in new tabtoday.
In the second case, authorities prevented an Indonesian maid from jumping off a building in Sabah Al-Salem, a suburb of Kuwait city. Al-Qabas and another Kuwaiti daily, Al-Rai - Opens in new tab, reported that firefighters and medical professionals were rushed to the scene following a tip from a neighbor of the employer. The firefighters broke the door that led to the roof where the maid was standing, and after talking to the her convinced her to step down.
Over the last week, these are the fourth and fifth reported cases of suicide or suicide attempts by maids in Kuwait. At the end of each article, the state-run media claims that these suicides are being investigated. Yet we never hear about sponsors being brought to trial for making their maids desperate enough to attempt suicide.