What is the meaning of "ruined" in the poem?

In Thomas Hardy's poem "The Ruined Maid" each stanza ends with a line that refers to the speaker as being "ruined." The word means that the woman has been morally spoiled and tainted, specifically, she has become a prostitute. The poem uses the word with great irony; although a woman who is "ruined" should feel regret and despair, the speaker seems satisfied and even smug with that appellation. Previously, she had worked at hard labor doing field work; her clothes were tattered and she had no shoes because of her extreme poverty. Her speech and hands were coarse. Now she returns dressed in finery, speaking in language that "fits 'ee for high compa-ny," and wearing lovely gloves. Even her complexion is "delicate" now. Her explanation for these great changes in her appearance and demeanor is that she has been "ruined." In other words, she has gone into prostitution as a way of escaping the extreme poverty and the lack of opportunity that faced women at the turn of the 20th century. The reader is left wondering what really "ruins" women.