侍女是指贴身照顾、侍候主人的女仆或婢女，又称侍婢、近身女仆、贴身女仆、近身丫鬟、贴身丫鬟、使女（粤语称妹仔、近身妹仔、贴身妹仔）。宫廷女性如女王、皇后、妃嫔、公主等都会有宫女侍候。

东亚古代社会的奴婢与长工分别并不明显，无论是卖身为婢还是长期受雇帮佣的女子都称为丫鬟。19世纪末，英国人于治下之香港提出「反蓄婢运动」，原因是认为婢女相当于奴隶，没**、没报酬，于是1921年9月由反对蓄婢人士成立反对蓄婢会，殊不知中国传统社会并不认同「婢即为奴」，更视蓄婢为善行，可以避免年幼女童会因为家境贫穷而遭杀害，又或流离失所，更甚者女主人与侍女可以感情深厚如姊妹。这一场运动正好反映中国传统观念与西方文化的差异和冲突。

A handmaiden, handmaid or maidservant is a personal maid or female servant, or someone whose primary role is to serve or assist. The term is not commonly used nowadays; the terms maid or domestic worker being more commonly used.

In the Hebrew Bible, the term handmaid is applied to a female slave who serves her mistress, as in the case of Hagar being described as Sarai's handmaid, Zilpah being Leah's handmaid and Bilhah as Rachel's handmaid. In each of these cases, the mistress "gave" their handmaid to their husbands "to wife", to bear his "seed" (children). The use in the Torah of the prefix "to", as in "gave to wife", may indicate that the wife is a concubine or inferior wife. The text repeats that these people remain handmaids (i.e., slaves) of their mistress though they are also the mistress's husband's concubine.