Editing Maid

{{Short description|Female domestic worker}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Redirect|Chambermaid||The Chambermaid (disambiguation){{!}}The Chambermaid}}
{{globalize|article|the English-speaking world|date=June 2015}}
[[File:Smedley maid illustration 1906.jpg|thumb|Illustration by [[William Thomas Smedley]], 1906]]
[[File:Raimundo Madrazo - La Toilette.jpg|thumb|''La Toilette'' by [[Raimundo Madrazo|Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta]], {{Circa|1890|1900}}]]
[[File:ModelC5 1912.jpg|thumb|A maid cleaning in [[Denmark]] in 1912]]
A '''maid''', '''housemaid''', or '''maidservant''' is a female [[domestic worker]]. In the [[Victorian era]], domestic service was the second-largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work.<ref>{{cite web |title=Occupations: census returns for 1851, 1861 and 1871 |url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/census.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115111903/https://www.victorianweb.org/history/census.html |archive-date=Nov 15, 2022 |work=The Victorian Web}}</ref> In developed Western nations, full-time maids are now typically only found in the wealthiest households. In other parts of the world (mainly within the continent of Asia), maids remain common in urban middle-class households.

{{Lang|enm|Maid}} in [[Middle English]] meant an unmarried woman, especially a young one, or specifically a [[virgin]].  These meanings lived on in English until recent times (and are still familiar from literature and folk music), alongside the sense of the word as a type of servant.<ref>[[OED]], "Maid"</ref><ref>In [[Anglo-Cornish]] dialect "maid" is commonly used to mean "girl"; [[Bal maiden]]s were women working at the mines of Cornwall, at smashing ore &c.</ref>

==Description==
Maids perform typical domestic chores such as [[laundry]], [[ironing]], [[cleaning]] the house, grocery shopping, [[cooking]], and caring for household pets. They may also [[child care|take care of children]], although there are more specific occupations for this, such as [[nanny]]. In some poor countries, maids take care of the elderly and people with disabilities. Many maids are required by their employers to wear a [[uniform]].

In the contemporary [[Western world]], comparatively few households can afford live-in domestic help, usually relying on [[cleaner]]s, employed directly or through an agency ([[maid service]]). 
Many services historically provided by maids have been [[substitute good|substituted]] with [[home appliances]].

In less developed nations, various factors ensure a labour source for domestic work: very large differences in the income of urban and rural households, widespread poverty, fewer [[Female education|educated women]], and limited opportunities for the employment of less educated women.

Legislation in many countries makes certain living conditions, working hours, or minimum wage a requirement of domestic service. Nonetheless, the work of a maid has always been hard, involving a full day, and extensive duties.  Maids would be familiar with hard work and typically worked long hours in a week.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A day in the life of a servant |url=https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-servant |access-date=2023-05-25 |website=National Trust for Scotland |language=en}}</ref>

===Europe===
Maids were once part of an elaborate hierarchy in [[great house]]s, where the [[retinue]] of servants stretched up to the housekeeper and butler, responsible for female and male employees respectively. It was the best and most common way that women could earn money, especially lower class women.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Lasser |first=Carol |date=January 1987 |title=The domestic balance of power: Relations between mistress and maid in nineteenth-century new England |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00236568700890011 |journal=Labor History |language=en |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=5–22 |doi=10.1080/00236568700890011 |issn=0023-656X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The word "maid" itself means an unmarried young woman or virgin. Domestic workers, particularly those low in the hierarchy, such as maids and [[footmen]], were expected to remain unmarried while in service.<ref>David Hume, ''Essay XI''</ref><ref>Thomas Malthus, ''An Essay on the Principle of Population'', p.139</ref> They had their own section of rooms in the house, though they were far away from the other rooms and weren’t anywhere near as nice as the rest of the house.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Moreira |first1=Ana |last2=Farias |first2=Hugo |title=The Maid's Room: Inception, Obsolescence, and Transfiguration |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/378100267}}</ref>

Some households employed maids-of-all-work as young as twelve in the 19th century in England and they often worked from five in the morning until late in the evening on a wage of £6 to £9 per year.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jeffers |first=Regina |date=2020-02-07 |title=Life Below Stairs: Life as a Maid-of-all Work in Victorian England |url=https://reginajeffers.blog/2020/02/07/life-below-stairs-life-as-a-maid-of-all-work-in-victorian-england/ |access-date=2023-05-25 |website=Every Woman Dreams... |language=en}}</ref> They had no free time and typically only had one or two days off in a month.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fauve-Chamoux |first=Antoinette |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jNxY41BTOgAC&dq=history+of+domestic+help+england&pg=PA277 |title=Domestic Service and the Formation of European Identity: Understanding the Globalization of Domestic Work, 16th-21st Centuries |date=2004 |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=978-3-03910-589-2 |language=en}}</ref>

In Victorian England, all middle-class families would have "help", but for most small households, this would be only one employee, the maid of all work, often known colloquially as "the girl".

Historically, many maids suffered from [[prepatellar bursitis]], an inflammation of the [[prepatellar bursa]] caused by long periods spent on the knees for purposes of scrubbing and fire-lighting, leading to the condition attracting the colloquial name of "housemaid's knee".<ref>{{cite web |last=Tidy |first=Colin |title=Housemaid's Knee (Prepatellar Bursitis) |url=http://patient.info/health/housemaids-knee-prepatellar-bursitis |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221015112112/https://patient.info/bones-joints-muscles/knee-pain-patellofemoral-pain/housemaids-knee-prepatellar-bursitis |archive-date=Oct 15, 2022 |work=Patient.info|date=28 June 2020 }}</ref>

As the end of the nineteenth century neared, the relationship between employer and servant grew more and more distant and they were less loyal.<ref name=":0" /> At the end of the nineteenth century, there was a decline in the want for maids and other servants entirely, which has led to today when the majority of people don’t have maids.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Higgs |first=Edward |date=1983 |title=Domestic servants and households in Victorian England |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03071028308567561 |journal=Social History |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=201–210 |doi=10.1080/03071028308567561 |via=Taylor and Francis Online|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Asia===
{{See also|Migrant workers in the Gulf region|Foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong|Foreign workers in Saudi Arabia}}

Today, foreign women are employed in [[Saudi Arabia]], [[Kuwait]], [[Qatar]], [[Lebanon]],  [[Singapore]], [[Hong Kong]], [[Japan]] and [[United Arab Emirates]] in large numbers to work as maids or other roles of domestic service, and are often vulnerable to multiple forms of abuse.<ref>{{cite web |last=Varia |first=Nisha |date=7 July 2008 |title="As If I Am Not Human" - Abuses against Asian Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia |url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2008/07/07/if-i-am-not-human/abuses-against-asian-domestic-workers-saudi-arabia |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221121104011/https://www.hrw.org/report/2008/07/07/if-i-am-not-human/abuses-against-asian-domestic-workers-saudi-arabia |archive-date=Nov 21, 2022 |website=[[Human Rights Watch]]}}</ref><ref name="the guardian1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/13/saudi-arabia-treatment-foreign-workers |date=13 January 2013| title=Saudi Arabia's treatment of foreign workers under fire after beheading of Sri Lankan maid |last=Chamberlain |first=Gethin |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=14 January 2013}}</ref><ref name="humanrightswatch1">{{cite web |author=Human Rights Watch |url=http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/refworld/rwmain?page=printdoc&amp;docid=412ef32a4 |title='Bad Dreams:' Exploitation and Abuse of Migrant Workers in Saudi Arabia |publisher=United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees |date=14 July 2004 |access-date=14 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200312095552/https://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/refworld/rwmain?page=printdoc&docid=412ef32a4 |archive-date=12 March 2020 |url-status=dead }}</ref> An ''ayi'' (''aunt'' in Mandarin) works as a domestic helper in China, and occasionally provides personalized childcare.

==Southern Africa==
{{Unreferenced section|date=October 2022}}In some areas in the region, the word "maid" is avoided and is often referred to as a "helper" instead. This is most likely due to the fact that it sounds like a racially derogatory term in [[Afrikaans]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nyamnjoh |first=Francis |date=February 2005 |title=Madams and Maids in Southern Africa: coping with uncertainties, and the art of mutual zombification |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/298864824}}</ref> Maids in South Africa were referred to as domestic servants and they included men, women, and children. They were subject to low wages, lack of a social life, unfavorable working conditions, and even unaccommodating work hours.<ref>{{cite web |title=hours. |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/brief-history-domestic-service-south-africa}}</ref> The Afrikaans word for a mite (small arachnid) has been used demeaningly to refer to women of colour. The English word for a friend, "mate", is also avoided for this reason.

==Types==
[[File:Joshua Reynolds - Tysoe Hancock and his Family with an Indian Maid - WGA19338.jpg|thumb|right|[[George Clive (died 1779)|George Clive]] and his family with an Indian maid, painted 1765. As she appears to be caring for the child, she may be an ''[[Amah (occupation)|aya]]''.]]
Maids traditionally have a fixed position in the hierarchy of the large households, and although there is overlap between definitions (dependent on the size of the household), the positions themselves would typically be rigidly adhered to. The usual classifications of maid in a large household are:

* [[Lady's maid]]: a senior servant who reported directly to the [[lady]] of the house, but ranked beneath the [[Housekeeper (domestic worker)|housekeeper]], and accompanied her lady on travel. She took care of her mistress's clothes and hair, and sometimes served as confidante. 
* House-maid or [https://www.magicleanmaid.com/maid-cleaning-services/ housemaid]: a generic term for maids whose function was chiefly "above stairs", and were usually a little older, and better paid. Where a household included multiple housemaids, the roles were often subdivided as below.
** Head house-maid: the senior house maid, reporting to the housekeeper. (Also called "house parlour maid" in an establishment with only one or two upstairs maids).
** Parlour maid: they cleaned and tidied reception rooms and living areas by morning, and often served refreshments at [[afternoon tea]], and sometimes also dinner. They tidied studies and libraries, and (with footmen) answered bells calling for service.<ref>A Parlour Maid's timetable is summarised [http://chestofbooks.com/food/household/Woman-Encyclopaedia-1/Parlourmaid-s-Time-Table.html in this webpage] extract from a book.</ref>
** Chamber maid: they cleaned and maintained the bedrooms, ensured fires were lit in fireplaces, and supplied hot water.
** Laundry maid: they maintained bedding and towels. They also washed, dried, and ironed clothes for the whole household, including the servants.
** Under house parlour maid: the general deputy to the house parlour maid in a small establishment that had only two upstairs maids.
* [[Nursemaid|Nursery maid]]: also an "upstairs maid", but one who worked in the children's nursery, maintaining fires, cleanliness, and good order. Reported to the nanny rather than the housekeeper. The nursemaid would often stay with one family for years or as long as their services were needed.<ref>{{cite web |title=nursemaids |date=15 November 2018 |url=https://englandspuzzle.com/the-nanny-the-nursemaid-and-the-governess/}}</ref>
* [[Kitchen maid (domestic worker)|Kitchen maid]]: a "below stairs" maid who reported to the cook, and assisted in running the kitchens.
** Head kitchen maid: where multiple kitchen maids were employed, the "head kitchen maid" was effectively a [[line cook|deputy to the cook]], engaged largely in the plainer and simpler cooking (sometimes cooking the servants' meals).
** Under kitchen maid: where multiple kitchen maids were employed, these were the staff who prepared vegetables, peeled potatoes, and assisted in presentation of finished cooking for serving.
* [[Scullery maid]]: the lowest grade of "below stairs" maid, reporting to the cook, the scullery maids were responsible for washing cutlery, crockery, and glassware, and scrubbing kitchen floors, as well as monitoring ovens while kitchen maids ate their own supper.<ref>{{cite web |title=Victorian Servants Category |url=http://www.victorianlifestyle.org/?cat=14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130220222600/http://www.victorianlifestyle.org/?cat=14 |archive-date=2013-02-20 |access-date=2012-08-04 |work=Victorian Life Style}}</ref>
* [[Between maid]], sometimes known as a "tweeny": roughly equivalent in status to scullery maids, and often paid less, between maids in a large household waited on the senior servants ([[butler]], housekeeper, and [[cook (domestic worker)|cook]]) and were therefore answerable to all three department heads, often leading to friction in their employment.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ward |first=Peter |title=Victorian Servants |url=http://www.ourwardfamily.com/victorian_servants.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20080518065331/http://www.ourwardfamily.com/victorian_servants.htm |archive-date=18 May 2008 |website=Our Ward Family}}</ref>
* [[Still room maid]]: a junior maid employed in the [[still room]]; as the work involved the supply of alcohol, cosmetics, medicines, and cooking ingredients across all departments of the house, the still room maids were part of the "between staff", jointly answerable to all three department heads.

In more modest households, a single '''maid-of-all-work''' or '''skivvy''' was often the only staff. It is possible this word originates from the Italian for slave ("{{lang|it|schiavo}}"—"owned person").

==In popular culture==
{{further|French maid}}
[[File:La Grève des bonnes (1906).webm|thumb|thumbtime=3:00|''La Grève des bonnes'', a 1906 satire about French maids going on strike]]
One of the most in-depth and enduring representations of the lives of several types of maid was seen in the 1970s television drama ''[[Upstairs, Downstairs (1971 TV series)|Upstairs, Downstairs]]'', set in [[England]] between 1903 and 1936. The lives of maids were well represented in the ''[[Downton Abbey]]'' series, set in England between 1912 and 1926 and shown from 2010 onward.

The American television drama ''[[The Gilded Age (TV series)|The Gilded Age]]'', set in the 1880s in [[New York City]], depicts the lives of maids living and working in the great houses of the [[Gilded Age|era]].

The main characters in the [[NAMIC Vision Award]]-nominated television series ''[[Devious Maids]]'' are four housemaids.

==See also==<!-- PLEASE RESPECT ALPHABETICAL ORDER -->
*[[Au pair]]
*[[Charwoman]]
*[[Foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong]]
*[[French maid]]
*[[Janitor]]
*[[Domestic worker|Servant]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{commons-inline|Maid}}
*{{wikiquote-inline|Maid}}
*{{Wiktionary-inline|maid}}

{{Modern cleaning roles}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Domestic work]]
[[Category:Home economics]]
[[Category:Maids| ]]
[[Category:Gendered occupations]]
[[Category:Cleaning and maintenance occupations]]