“Grato mister que, quer queiram quer não, é o de ser dona de casa” : educação das mulheres na Escola Doméstica Dona Júlia – Cuiabá-MT (1946-1949)

Abstract

This study addresses education for women offered at the Dona Júlia Domestic School - EDDJ, in Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil, between 1946 and 1949, when the institution sought to train women who could later work as wage-earning domestic workers, as stated by the school principals. The study covers the period from 1946 to 1949, when the school was active and offered its first three-year course. The general objective of this study was to investigate the origin of the school, analyzing its process of foundation, and the creation of the course domestic training for women. The sources included course syllabus, the school’s regulations, minutes, registration files, official documents, newspapers, magazines, and laws, which were collected from several physical and online archives, such as: Arquivo Público do Estado de Mato Grosso (APMT); Instituto Memória da Assembleia Legislativa de Mato Grosso (IMAL); Núcleo de Documentação e Informação Histórica Regional da Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso (NDIHR), and Hemeroteca Digital Brasileira (BNDigital). Private collections of two researchers and of a collector who keep data about the history of Cuiabá as relics constitute other sources of research. Our methodology was based on studies conducted by Jacques Le Goff (1990), Peter Burke (1997), Marc Bloch (1997), following the principles recommended by the Annales School, which helped with other possibilities of research with documentary and bibliographic sources. The analysis procedures drew on the ideas of Michel de Certeau (1982) and Paul Ricouer (2007), helping us to understand the daily life and relationships established in the school context, especially the memory of the institution analyzed in the documents. Authors such as Paolo Nosella, Ester Buffa (2009), and Justino Pereira Magalhães (2005) provided support for information on school institutions. Michelle Perrot (2005; 2007) and Guacira Lopes Louro (1997; 1993; 1987) provided the necessary reflections on the history of education for women. Trying to answer our questions about how the school was created, and what kind training for women was offered at EDDJ, we discovered that the philosophy of the school was based on the ideas of women belonging to traditional families from Cuiabá. These women, following religious and conservative principles, systematized and influenced the school’s teaching model, giving priority to the knowledge of household chores as a way to educate low-earning and skilled females to work as maids in houses of better-off families. We also found out that, after completing the threeyear course, the students received no certificate since the school did not operate under government regulations, and as such, was not recognized by the Ministry of Education and Health.