They became seamstresses, governesses, and factory workers. Among the poorest of women were prostitutes. Orphaned or poor children were forced to work in the factories as well. During both periods, work was not hard to come by.
These jobs of both time periods were abundant but not very rewarding. The rise in job opportunities was canceled out by the harsh working conditions workers had to face. In the feudal times, field labor was long and exhausting. Labor was forced by lords and landowners during the wartime to provide towns and knights with enough food and rations. Field hands also had to work extra days during the peak of harvests before the crops overripe or before the seasons or weather changed. They had to work at least two to three full days of labor a week. Fortunately for them, they did not have to work on Sundays or other holidays. However, this did not make work easier when they had to pay so many taxes. Farmers still owed a tithe to church and tax collectors. There was a tax on the grain ground in the lord's mill and the bread baked in the lord's oven. They also could not marry without their lord's consent. Country workers in the industrial time also had to work long hours; from dawn until dusk. Although they might have improved farming tools, they had to provide industrial cities with raw materials and food. Industrial city workers had long hours as well. They had to work fourteen hours a day, six days a week. One might think that because of these long hours, wages would be increasingly high. However, all lower class workers received low pay. Although job opportunities soared in the cities, farmers were pushed from their homes in the country in order to build industrial towns in their place.
Another parameter that was shared between both time periods in the working place was the dangers in jobs. Because good medicine or first aid did nod exist during the feudal times, injuries inflicted from working never healed and often got worse.
