So the term Portuguese maid/housekeeper or 'femme de menage Portugaise'
was synonymous to a poor backwards peasant girl or woman often illiterate,
coming form the rural areas of Portugal to work in the sophisticated
Paris. The rich bourgeois Parisians had the tendency of course to look
down on them.
At the time they were lots of specialized shops in those rich Parisian
suberbs, selling 'domestic workwear' for those in live in service. Those
shops were called 'blouses et tabliers boutiques' (overalls and aprons
shops).
In today's Paris, as elsewhere in the western world live in maids are a
rarity. Portuguese women are rich and elegant an go to Paris for their
shopping and the 'blouses et tabliers boutiques' are nearly gone.
(2-a suivre)
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