“Criadas de servir”: um estudo sobre trabalho doméstico em São Luís– MA (1890-1910)

Abstract

This is a study on domestic work in São Luís, Maranhão, from the turn of the 19th century to the 20th, a period of transformation and changes in the economic, social and political scenario with the advent of the Republic and the end of the slave rule. The proclamation of the Republic brought with it ideals of civilization and progress in Brazilian society, new technologies and modernization in urban centers. In this process, the modernizing discourse was accompanied by hygienist practices that sought to change sanitary issues and the habits of the population. In the capital of Maranhão, the installation of the textile industry brought with it greater movement of people in the public space and creation of towns and tenements around the factories. Normative discourses and behavioral patterns that women would have a vocation for the home and man for work in the public sphere have proved contradictory to the poorer strata of society. In this work, we analyze the roles of poor women in São Luís, especially the condition of "servants", and their working relations in public space, as well as moral and behavioral discourses for this female audience. Thus, the purpose of this study is to discuss domestic labor relations in São Luís, which, in the face of the collapse of the Brazilian slave regime, points to the performance of a salaried labor force, in which poor women are the main agents.