domestic service
Work within homes
Domestic service is work performed in a private household—cleaning, cooking, childcare, and similar tasks.
The term encompasses both the occupation and the labor itself: She spent thirty years in domestic service.
It often carries historical associations with servants, maids, and housekeepers, particularly in contexts of class distinction or immigration.
- maidHousehold cleaning worker
- housekeeperDomestic cleaning professional
- household staffHired home workers
- chambermaidHotel room attendant
- footmanUniformed domestic male attendant
valet · manservant · butler · below stairs · governess · live-in · hired help · housemaid · scullery maid · cook · parlormaid · lady's maid · cleaning lady · home help · nanny · gardener · wet nurse · downstairs
- Victorian eraparlour, Victorian etiquette, etiquette, parlor games, courtship
- servantsbutler, maid, servant, servants, domestics
- domestic laborhousehold staff, housekeepers, maids, nannies, butlers
- labor systemsbonded labor, chattel slavery, child labor, compulsory labor, contract labor
- old customsarranged marriage, arranged marriages, dowry, betrothal, courtship rituals
- child laborchild labor, child workers, child labor laws, bonded labor, debt bondage
domestic servicefactory work
Employment in manufacturing facilities
industrial labor · factory labor · office work · retail work · professional services
domestic serviceself-employment
Working for yourself
entrepreneurship · business ownership · independent practice · management · proprietorship
domestic servicepublic employment
Jobs in government agencies
self-employment · entrepreneurship · civil service · professional practice · freelance work
serve, service, domestic, served, server, serves, domesticated, servitude, servile