By Safiu Kehinde
It was a battle of words yesterday at the Lagos State Polytechnic’s first debate program held at the school’s 700-seater auditorium.
Themed “My Gender, My Pride”, the all-women event was convened by the institution’s Student Union Government Public Relations Officer, Miss Dunni Thomas.
Supporting the motion, “Employing maid is necessary for a career woman, wife and mother”, Owoseni Adunola, representing the School of Engineering argued that a career woman needs a maid on account of her demanding responsibilities.
Owoseni opened the curtains of the discourse by citing a statistics provided by the United Nations International Children Emergency Fund. “According to UNICEF, over 70.1 million people employed in the world are house workers and maid. And also, over 1.4% of the employed in the Africa are also maids,” she said.
She further stated that having a maid build the mental health of a career who gets exhausted after work and might be unable to do proper cleaning of the house and other chores.
“When a woman gets home, she is exhausted. And when she attempts cleaning the house, she may not do the nitty gritty of the cleaning. But an employed maid will do it to the core because she is trained for that purpose,” Owoseni added.
Also supporting the motion was a student from the School of Management and Business Studies, Oyefejo Olaseni Ifeoluwa. She cited a research which stated that working women are often confronted by need to balance their work, family obligation, and personal life preferences.
Oyefejo, the eventual winner of the debate, revealed that such balance cannot be achieved due to time constraints.
“But these cannot be achieved because of time constraints. Thus, they end up sacrificing their personal life preferences just to make time for their work and family obligations.”
“With this, their life becomes a cycle- from work to home, from home to work. They feel like a machine. They make effort without recovery and they are placed on a scale of effort=1, recovery=0. But with a maid at hand, it becomes effort=1, recovery=1,” she expressed.
However, one of the opposition speakers strongly frowned against the employment of a maid. Representing the School of Technology, Kafaya Haruna opined that a career woman should be able to schedule are activities around her kids as employing a maid has a lot of negativity.
“Employing a maid can cause quarrel, disunity, break of family ties, etc. Being a career woman is not a genuine reason for employing a maid as a maid can be a tool of bad influence to your child,” she argued.
Haruna further gave instances of crimes committed by maids. According to her, there have been cases of child molestation, kidnapping, stealing, and other bad motives inhibited by maids.
“A maid can also take up the role of a mother and in some cases take the position of a wife. Once a maid is around and the wife is not- leaving early and coming back late, how do your children want to recognize you as their mother? How do you want to have time for your husband?,” she asked.
After minutes of heated argument, the panelists chaired by Lieutenant Doctor, Fatimehin – representing the Commanding Officer of 174 Battalion Army, Damilola – a representative of the event sponsorer, Diva Sanitary Pad, Mrs. Bunmi-Dipo Adedoyin, a lecturer and a representative of Women At Risk Foundation International (WARIF), Yusuf Azeezat Ideraoluwa, and Olowu Mistura, selected four outspoken debaters for the final round.
While backing up her claim, the School of Engineering representative, Owoseni Adunola, insisted that a career woman needs a maid just as God needed an assistant.
“Even God needed an assistant. After creating Adam, He created Eve to assist the man. He also sent Jesus to assist in winning the redeeming the souls of believers. Jesus in return also called for Holy Spirit to keep ministering to the believers. So a career woman also need a maid to assist in performing some of her obligations,” she concluded.
In attendance at the event was the Iyaloja of Ikorodu land, Alhaja Taofikat Allyson. Sponsors of the event, Oshodi Art Gallery and media outfits like Shotigbo Africa, GC Kreativiti TV, and Kachi TV were also present.
