As the colonial population grew, so did the demand for female convict labour. Convict women were employed in domestic service, washing and on government farms, and were expected to find their own food and lodging. Punishment for those who transgressed was humiliating and public.

Female convicts in colonial Australia (1788–1853) faced a complex and often harsh reality that differed significantly from their male counterparts. Upon arrival, most were "assigned" as domestic servants to free settlers or government officials. While this could be a path to a stable life, many women were vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse from their masters with little legal recourse. Those who "misbehaved"—which included anything from drunkenness to pregnancy—were sent to Female Factories (like the ones in Parramatta or Hobart). These were part-prison, part-workhouse where women performed grueling labor like carding wool, breaking stones, or doing laundry for the colony. Discipline was often public and humiliating, including the shaving of their heads. However, the scarcity of women in the early colony also provided unique opportunities; many female convicts eventually earned their "Ticket of Leave," married, and became successful business owners or landowners, far exceeding the social status they would have held in Britain. Despite the "damned whore" stereotype often applied to them by colonial authorities, they were essential to the economic and social foundation of the burgeoning Australian nation.