An Emirati woman who hired a Filipina housemaid through a recruitment office was shocked to discover that the maid is a man nearly a month later. But the hiring office maintained that the maid is a woman. Umm Mirna said she had suspected the maid’s behavior since she started working for her family in Abu Dhabi as she was hugging all females at the house and getting exhausted easily when she did massaging for the girls. “She was hugging all females without reason especially as there are no men in the house….I noticed she was getting easily tired and exhausted when she massaged girls in the house,” she said, quoted by Emarat Al Youm daily. “I then decided to search her bag and to my surprise, I found that all her belongings, including underwear, are used by men….I was then sure that the maid is man not a woman.” Umm Mirna said she took the maid to the hiring office and told them about her discovery. She said a female employee was asked to take the maid into a room and check her and that the employee claimed the maid is a woman. She said the office manager, upon her insistence, replaced that maid with another, adding that she discovered that the new maid is a thief. She then decided to return the new maid and retrieve her funds but said the office paid her Dh5,000 after deducting Dh4,000 to pay fees for the maid’s overstay, adding that the office also deducted other fees. Emarat Alyoum quoted the office manager as saying Umm Mirna’s claims were not true on the grounds the maid had undergone tests before she was allowed into the UAE and that there was no reference to her as male. He said the maid’s passport also showed she is a woman but noted that Umm Mirna might have suspected the maid is a man following a printing error by the office, which ticked “male” instead of “female” in the official document. “Perhaps Umm Mirna did not want to pay wages for two maids so she made these claims…the maid has been deported any way,” he said. In comments sent to Emirat Alyoum, one reader said the maid could be a “tomboy”, a widespread type in the Philippines. “She is actually a woman but with manly behavior and she usually marries another woman,” said one reader, identified as Mohammed. Another one said:” What I know is that many Filipino men look as women not vice versa…besides, is this one a maid or a massager,” said Reema.