Don’t you dare call this a first world article and don’t you dare judge mothers for needing a nanny. This is a struggle that we need to find a solution to immediately.
So, any working mom would tell you all she needs is a little bit of help with the household chores when she returns home after a long day of meetings, phone calls and Excel sheets. Before you unleash your inner Judge Judy, you need to understand that not only do women go to work to pursue a career, but also to support their families financially, so asking us to stay home is not an option after the increase in prices of everything in Egypt.
One of the main issues working and non-working moms have to endure is nannies. How the hell are we supposed to afford them or even magically find them dollars? Every month I feel like I’m meeting a dealer and might get arrested while changing currency.
Qualified nannies unfortunately refuse to be paid in anything but dollars as this money is sent to their families back home, in addition to paying rent in dollars, but how are we supposed to solve this? The bank won’t give us anything without travel documents, and even with documents the amount you’re allowed is ridiculous, not to mention that currency exchange stores are all closed.
This is becoming a nightmare because the only ones left that would accept Egyptian pounds are extremely unqualified, yet we cannot pay the minimum wage of USD 400 now that the Egyptian Pound is floating. Da kharab beyoot big time. That means your nanny who was paid around EGP 3,500 could expect a salary up to EGP 8,100. We all need to fix a range and we all need to insist we pay in Egyptian Pounds, because believe or not, we will be sucked dry if we don’t take action.
The time has come that Egypt supports unemployed women through a proper system and qualifies them to work as household maids and nannies. This has to come to an end.
WE SAID THIS: Yalahwi 3al dollar!
