Mulheres de ofício: o cotidiano de mulheres pobres pelas ruas da cidade de São Luís do Maranhão nas décadas de 1880-90

Abstract

This research aims to present the daily life of working women through the streets and public spaces of São Luís city, capital of Maranhão state, in the decades from 1880 to 1890 and analyzing the reasons why these women were constantly on the city’s streets. The conduct standard and morality considered in the period was the woman integrated into the home, being a good housewife, mother and wife. Rarely women went out the house and when they did it, were always accompanied by a man belonging to their family member. The women focused in this work played an inverse role, due to the livelihood need, they walked against the norms and standards that ruled the female behavior at the time. Through the analysis of A Pacotilha newspaper, of the years 1880/81/83/87/89/92, the literary sources were the book O Mulato by Aluízio de Azevedo , the Feast of Nossa Senhora dos Remédios and the province conduct codes of São Luís in the years 1842/66/92. It was possible to perceive the daily life progress of working women through the city’s streets. We note that in addition to the livelihood question, the streets represented a sociocultural way for the city's poor women.