Miss Fairfax lives!

[qatarperegrine]

I'm not sure which bemuses me more -- that this situation occurred, or that it was worthy of a newspaper article!

And why, exactly, did M Jassim brave stiff opposition from his wife, anyway?

Doesn't it all sound like the makings of a Jane Austen novel?

Comments

[kit-ping.livejournal.com]

Okay. That's just... weird. :)

She only gets to see her husband once a week after going back to work? Am I reading that right?

[qatar.livejournal.com]

That's how I read it too.

I'm starting to get the impression that Qatari women and men don't see a lot of one another. Certainly unmarried men and women don't associate with one another, but even after marriage I think they live in separate worlds.

I was struck by this when I was trying to find a picture for my FAQ of a woman in an abaya and a man in a thobe. Despite a number of Google image searches (as well as perusing my Qatar books), I was able to find only one image of a traditionally dressed Qatari man and woman together:


There are, however, a million pictures out there of groups of women together and groups of men together, e.g.


Still. Even Mr. Woodhouse let Emma's governess go live with Mr. Weston when they got married. Perhaps this is even beyond a Jane Austen novel!

Update

[qatar.livejournal.com]

So, having lived here for almost a full week now, I have two updates to the above post.

First, I don't think that the couple in the top picture are even Qatari, because while the man is wearing a thobe his head covering is wrong.

Second, I do see lots of male-female couples around, especially in the grocery store. The other day I even saw two of them hold hands, which was something I haven't seen at all in the last week.

Also, distant photos don't do justice to the abayas women wear here. Most of them are very finely embroidered, appliqued or sequined and are very beautiful pieces of clothing. (The thobes really are just like button-down shirts that keep on going, though.)

[canyonwren.livejournal.com]

I'm also curious about the wife. She the minor villain in the story, it seems.

[qatar.livejournal.com]

Well, goodness. It's such a bother when the help goes and gets married! Now who will dust the chandeliers?

At least they're planning on being "without issues" for their remaining two years of maid-ing. I'm assuming this is an archaic translation of "without children" and not a wish for a problem-free marriage. (Then again, possibly both.)

quit grousing, Peregrine

[(Anonymous)]

What's your problem?

You note that after they return he will allow his servant to see her husband once a week. What more could you ask for? :=)

Doha and Docility?

[y-pestis.livejournal.com]

I'd think after the "stiff opposition" from the wife, M Jassim is probably wishing he only had a once-a-week interaction with her too.

I can't remember any supporting evidence for this, but I think the help having one day a week to themselves is pretty normal. I just did some searching and came across Edwardian life at Hinchingbrooke that has some interesting detail about the life of servants...
On a webpage about The London House, it says "Servants often worked eighteen hours a day with only half a day off once a week, for very low wages." But it also mentions that one third of the servants were girls under 20, so a fair number of them may have stopped doing the servanting thing after they got married. (Just as Shamim plans to do in two years!)
Another page (a Geocities site) says: " By the 1880s, servants were given a half-day off on Sundays, starting after lunch (and only if all their chores for that morning had been completed), and they were usually given one day off each month, starting after breakfast, and again, their chores all had to be finished first."

Wow. I was vaguely depressed that this is the end of my weekend, but I guess that puts things into perspective!

Re: Doha and Docility?

[qatar.livejournal.com]

I love "Doha and Docility"!!

Your Edwardian rules include this one: "Any maid found fraternising with a member of the opposite sex will be dismissed without a hearing." Perhaps that's M Jassim's wife's position. It certainly makes me wonder what opportunity Mohiuddin had to fall in love with Shamim?

BTW, I do remember maids having one day off a week in Agatha Christies and that era of books.

Also, did the "good samaritan" reference strike anyone else as odd in context?