A maid, or housemaid or maidservant, is a female person employed in domestic service. Although now usually found only in the most wealthy of households, in the Victorian era domestic service was the second largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work.
Once part of an elaborate hierarchy in great houses, today a single maid may be the only domestic worker that upper and even middle-income households can afford, as was historically the case for many households. In the contemporary Western world, comparatively few households can afford live-in domestic help, usually compromising on periodic cleaners. In less developed nations, very large differences in the income of urban and rural households and between different socio-economic classes, fewer educated women and limited opportunities for working women ensures a labour source for domestic work.
Maids perform typical domestic chores such as cooking, ironing, washing, cleaning the house, grocery shopping, walking the family dog, and taking care of children. In many places in some poor countries, maids often take on the role of a nurse in taking care of the elderly and people with disabilities. Many maids are required by their employers to wear a uniform.
Maids (Portuguese: Domésticas) is a 2001 Brazilian film directed by Fernando Meirelles and Nando Olival. It is based on the play of the same name by Renata Melo, and has received multiple awards and nominations.
O Estado de S. Paulo praised the film as it differentiates itself from original play thus does not rellies its comic potential on offending domestic workers. The reviewer also commended the fact that it is a film aimed to general people instead of a sociological approach.Variety praised its cinematography as well as the cast, and further called it a "bright Brazilian comedy" that has "a wit and naturalness that Ken Loach's Bread and Roses might envy."Peter Bradshaw, writing for The Guardian said "it is indeed a little gem".
Maids (Hangul: 하녀들; RR: Hanyeodeul) is a 2015 South Korean television series starring Jeong Yu-mi, Oh Ji-ho, Kim Dong-wook, Lee Si-a, Jeon So-min and Lee Yi-kyung. It aired on jTBC from January 23 to March 28, 2015 on Fridays and Saturdays at 21:45 for 20 episodes.
Guk In-yeob is the only daughter of a Joseon nobleman, and her beauty and style has her surrounded by plentiful admirers, among them Kim Eun-gi, a young scholar from an important family who's loved In-yeob since they were young. But one day In-yeob's father is branded a traitor, causing her family to be forced into ruin, and overnight the city's most popular young lady becomes a slave. In-yeob has difficulty adjusting from her pampered past to her present life as the lowly maid to her former rival. She learns to survive by her wits and befriends her fellow slaves, including Mumyeong (meaning "nameless"), a mysterious manservant who once saved her when she was still an aristocrat. Although Eun-gi remains devoted to In-yeob, her changed social status becomes an obstacle to his promising future, and meanwhile, she begins to fall for the stoic, level-headed but charismatic Mumyeong, who unbeknownst to all is a warrior on an undercover assignment regarding matters of political import.