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Comment by kingcharles | Hacker News Reader

My girlfriend is Qatari and it is almost universal there to have a live-in maid.

Or be a live-in maid. It seems unlikely more than half the people have a live-n maid.

The vast majority of people in Qatar (and in every Arab monarchy, and a significant portion of every Arab country) are not citizens, they're guest workers. Most of these guest workers are domestic labor.

Sorry, to be clearer, it is universal for Qatari citizens.

"In early 2017, Qatar's total population was 2.6 million: 313,000 Qatari citizens and 2.3 million expatriates."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatar

Maybe a dumb question: How could it be universal. I’m assuming the maid doesn’t have a maid, right?

Based on what I've heard from people of the area, the maid is usually an immigrant. And "universal" tends to mean "universal amongst proper citizens".

Relatedly, I was surprised to learn that some women who "universally" wear a hijab before men feel no need to do so before a male immigrant.

Even if the immigrant is Muslim?

More about social standing than religion as I understand it. The rule of thumb as I was told is basically: "is there any slight chance in I marry this person? If yes, hijab. If no, doesn't matter." Religion plays a role in such analysis, but considering a Muslim immigrant laborer versus some arbitrary Abrahamic doctor (for instance), the doctor would be more likely to see the hijab. (For married women, the husband decides)

Sorry, to be clearer, it is universal for Qatari citizens.

"In early 2017, Qatar's total population was 2.6 million: 313,000 Qatari citizens and 2.3 million expatriates."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatar

Qatari is something like 10% citizens 90% migrant labor from Africa, so universal for citizens would be correct.

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