Female convicts and/or their children spent time in various convict institutions in Van Diemen's Land. These included:
- female factories (also known as houses of correction)
- hiring depots, Brickfields hiring depot
- probation stations
- nurseries
- gaols
- hospitals, New Norfolk Asylum
- invalid depots, benevolent asylums and charitable institutions
- orphanages
- industrial and training schools
Different institutions operated at different times during the convict period—see timeline.
Their administration was conducted by the Comptroller General's Department, which was under the authority of the British Government in London.
Many women worked as employees at the female convict institutions. These positions comprised many of the few opportunities available to women in government employment in colonial Tasmania.