criadas

Criadas is the plural of criada, a Portuguese term used to describe a female domestic worker or maid employed in a household. Historically, criadas performed tasks such as cleaning, cooking, laundry, and childcare, often living in the employer’s home. The term can carry connotations of gender, class, and the intimate, often hierarchical relationship between employer and servant.

In historical contexts, criadagem existed in both Portugal and Brazil and has roots in different social arrangements. In colonial Brazil and other Lusophone settings, many enslaved or enslaved-heritage women worked as criadas in white households. After abolition, some continued as paid workers, while others faced precarious conditions and limited labor protections. Through the 19th and 20th centuries, the figure of the criada persisted as urbanization and economic change shaped domestic labor, with living-in arrangements and close daily proximity to the family being common features.

Roles and working conditions vary widely by era and country, but commonly include housekeeping, cooking, child care, and elder care. The work is typically private and may involve long hours, limited privacy for the worker, and dependence on the employer’s settings and discretion. Modern discussions around criadas often emphasize labor rights, fair wages, regular hours, rest days, and social protections, reflecting broader reforms in domestic work across Portuguese-speaking countries.

In contemporary usage, the term criou or criado is less common in formal contexts in favor of empregos domésticos or empregadas domésticas, though criada remains part of historical and cultural discourse. The concept remains an important part of social history in Lusophone societies, illustrating the long-standing presence of domestic labor in shaping family life and gendered labor practices.