Convict Women in the Colony

Only about 11% of the total number of the working convicts transported to Australia were women. And these women brought with them skills which were immediately useful and contributed markedly to the growth of the colony. In the main these women were employed as general servants, laundresses, kitchenmaids, needleworkers and housemaids. These women did not need to struggle to adapt their working skills to the new environment of the colony. This in direct contrast to the 89% male convict arrivals who were ranked in importance as to the nature and severity of their crime - the reason they were transported - and as such their significance or insignificance was rated. Unfortunately historically the convict women were lumped in together coming under the single derogatory term of "useless whores". Although based on the scant evidence available only about 20% of the transported convicts did actually practise prostitution prior to their arrival in Australia (making this a figure of only 2.2% of the initial total convict population). On this basis it could be said that skills of the women were overlooked and their productive output was not recoqnised to it's full potential;and nor was the potential of their productivity fully reached by the young colony. A sad fact when each and every contribution should have been recoqnised and attributed.

See "Convict Workers" edited by Stephen Nicholas, 1988
- Published by Cambridge Press for more detail.