“In a few years, we would have our domestic service regenerated”. Maid schools in the city of Córdoba (Argentina, first decades of the 20th century)

Abstract

This work can be framed within a research area about the poor and poverty in Córdoba, Argentina, in the context of transformations produced between the end of the 19^th century and the first decades of the 20^th century, such as material and social modernization, urbanization, state institutionalization and economic growth. These transformations were accompanied by a series of social imbalances that affected the low-income sectors. In this context, a set of practices seeking to mitigate material and moral deficit of these sectors emerged. These practices drew up vague and moving limits between civil society and the State in the distribution of welfare and assistance to the poor. Our attention focuses on the domestic service, made up mostly of poor women. In this area, this work analyses the so-called “maid schools” that existed in the city of Córdoba in the decades of 1910 and 1920. These were managed by charity and/or religious organisations. We will examine their objectives and functions, their functioning and impact on the labour market and the maids. This work uses mainly the press, charity associations’ reports and administrative documentation from Cordoba City Hall as their primary research sources.