Having noticed that the maids who live in the job place, most of the time natural of the countryside, have taken an active role in the formation of the Brazilian urban population, this article aims to analyze the logics that determine the migration of these women towards the capitals, based on the study of the domestic population of Fortaleza. The central hypothesis developed is that the ingression into urban domestiticity is seen both as a personal project of social ascension and a matrimonial objective, resulting in a "social devaluation" of the youngsters in the rural area, as a result of the impoverishment of the small peasantry.
Female migration; Matrimonial strategy; Reconvertion strategy; Social mobility
