Maids to the city: migration patterns of female domestic servants from the province of Zeeland, the Netherlands

H. Bras

    Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

    Abstract

    This article deals with the migration patterns of female domestic servants from the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands during the second half of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. The main topics are rates of servant migration, major destinations, strategies behind migration, and determinants of migration across provincial boundaries. A multimethod approach is used, combining the analysis of a data set of life courses of servants with an investigation of qualitative material such as interviews, letters, autobiographies, and government reports. Migration rates of domestic servants peaked in the last decades of the 19th century. Major destinations of Zeeland servants shifted from local and regional jobs with farmers to positions outside the province, particularly in the growing Dutch cities of Rotterdam and The Hague. Family strategies of survival and possibly of risk diversification and upward mobility were behind this migration. However, qualitative sources show that the out-migration of Zeeland servants must also be understood in terms of individual strategies, such as the desire for higher wages, emancipation from the parental home, and participation in more exciting city life. © 2003 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)217-246
    Number of pages30
    JournalThe History of the Family
    Volume8
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2003

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