The research explores the economic and socio-cultural reasons that attempt to explain why domestic work is dominated by men in Nampula. As Nampula is a province with a strong Islamic presence and the majority of the population identify themselves as belonging to the Makhuwa ethnic group, which is traditionally defined by a matrilineal kinship system, I argue that the domestic sector remained masculinized because of the influence of the matrilinear system. I also argue that Islam patriarchal values play a decisive role because Muslim men see themselves as the exclusive family providers and for that reason forbid their wives to develop economic activities. This study also explores the connections between domestic work and masculinity discussing how working in the city as servants, domestic workers create and perform particular notions of masculinity. The research explores the meaning male domestic workers have to be a servant in the city and how this employment shapes particular understandings of masculinity. Given that many domestic workers in Nampula are immigrant people from the rural Zambézia province, I argue that working in the city as a domestic servant is a way to achieve a masculine status since in Nampula city domestic workers have access to goods that can only be found in urban contexts and are scarce in the villages; they are exposed to money and to different modern commodities in the houses where they work and the access to all these “modern” goods means respect from their communities
