 Prostitution was not so much a profession as a way of life for some women to make ends meet, particularly in a society in which there was a marked imbalance of gender, and convict women had no other means of income.Certainly brothels were established by the end of the 1820s, and records show girls as young as 12 were involved, while prostitution was associated with the female factory at Cascades.Nevertheless, the concept of 'fallen women' and division of women into 'good' and 'bad' was well established.