well, mostly _men_ worked on farms, women worked more at home. Gemora lists all jobs a woman is supposed to do in the house, with part of that could be done by the her maids if she brought some. She had to do at least some work to occupy herself. When women had capital and capabilities, halakha allowed them to run those businesses.
Nowaways, men invented a lot of machines that perform the jobs in the house, and society started schools, and recently free pre-Ks, to take care of the children.