At what age did girls begin working in the Elizabethan era?

Question

I'm asking because my English assignment is about dressing up like someone from the Elizabethan era and giving them a life story. I'm going to be a seamstress--would that be around age 11?

Answer 1

Probably in their early teens.

Answer 2

Respectable girls did not work, in the Elizabethan era. Farmers' daughters and other girls started working as soon as they could walk and keep their balance at the same time.

Answer 3

"With few exceptions, apprenticeship began in the teens and lasted from seven to ten years. Though it wasn't unheard of for sons to be apprenticed to their own fathers, it was fairly uncommon.................Apprenticeship was not limited to males. While there were fewer girls than boys taken in as apprentices, girls were trained in a wide variety of trades. They were more likely to be trained by the master's wife, who often knew nearly as much about the trade as her husband (and sometimes more). Although such trades as that of seamstress were more common for females, girls were not limited to learning skills they could take into a marriage, and once they married many continued plying their trades."

http://historymedren.about.com/library/weekly/aa033001d.htm

Answer 4

what kind of work are you talking about, precisely?