“Precisa-se de uma menina de cor para os serviços domésticos”: A infância e o mercado de trabalho doméstico em Salvador (1890-1918)

Abstract

The present study aimed to analyze the experiences of girls in the domestic labor market in Salvador between 1890 and 1918, seeking to understand the relationships between minors and their employers, highlighting their agency, forms of negotiation, subordination, conflicts, and resistance strategies in pursuit of their own freedom and agency. It was observed that a number of girls fled from the homes where they worked, some with the help of their families, others with the support of friends and other solidarity networks. We aimed to understand the reasons behind this act of abandoning their jobs, and to do so, it was necessary to conduct a study on the domestic labor market, emphasizing how these minors entered it and the forms of precarization and exploitation of their labor. The study of these cases allows us to identify the place girls occupied within society, their characteristics, the relationships they built, their ties with family, friends, and romantic partners, as well as the places they frequented, their thoughts, and other aspects. These characteristics, present in the runaway advertisements described by employers, reveal the values and customs of certain segments of society. Although the lives of these girls were regulated by guardianship and service contracts, medical and legal guidelines, or informal agreements between their families and employers, they fled, denounced, and even risked their own lives. This reveals a contradiction in the labor relations established during the post-abolition period: when they fled, they disrupted society and became active subjects, shaping their own experiences through acts of disobedience. The documents show the need to describe them, to individualize them, to contain them.