The position of women, who had an almost completely dependent status under English common law, improved rapidly in English America. Despite the prevailing doctrine, both civil and religious, that women were inferior to men and subject to their authority, women were of great practical value in the New World and their status was considerably above that of those in the Old World. Historians believe that women were highly valued and had a greater equality in those times when they were vital to the economy.

Nevertheless, women in colonial America were commonly regarded as inferior beings and the colonial period was far from being a golden age for women. Sex roles were sharply separated. Men were striving for male dominance and women were being forced into abject submission. Puritan males valued those characteristics in women, which would ensure submissiveness. The ideal woman blushed readily and chose "to be seen rather than to be heard whenever she comes". She held her tongue until asked by her father or husband to speak; then only good, comforting words flowed from her mouth. The ideal female displaced "an Eminence in Modesty, reserve, purity, temperance humilit

y, truth, meekness, patience, courtesy, affability, charity, goodness, mercy and compassion". Tender, consoling, she was viewed as a defenseless creature. Women's weakness was viewed as the factor that made them more ignorant, and Worthless." Many English and American Puritans believed the virtuous woman should walk in the shadow of her male masters from the cradle to the grave. A daughter owed almost complete allegiance to her father's wishes. He was to supervise whom she might choose as friends, direct her to the service of others, and remind her to keep constant watch over the state of her soul. Whatever he commanded (with exception of something sinful), she was to obey. The ideal daughter a girl who never read lust-inducing plays and romances, who avoided the comb and the looking glass, and who relished serving her parents with a demeanor of "Virgin Modesty".

Much of colonial America was agrarian, and most women worked the land alongside men. The colonists labored-on their farms, in the forests, in their shops and homes, on their ships at sea. Work helped to provide purpose to the present and hope for the future. Work was at the center of existence, the key not only to survival but also to the pleasures of life.

Young people were likely to marry any time from sixteen to twenty-one. The suitor could not simply court ant girl he wished. He first had to secure the permission of the maiden's father, or face prosecution in case of "inveigling" the girl. The daughter could, of course, reject any suitor allowed to court her, but she then had to deal with the consequences of the decision as such behavior was seen as unwise and disreputable. A young woman capable of such independence could hardly be expected to transform herself into a submissive, obedient wife, a fact that further restricted her marital possibilities. Parents had a concern about the choice, but they rarely challenged the decision unless there were special reasons for exercising a veto. There was of course a concern that one should not marry above or below his station. As explained by one minister, love was "the Sugar to sweeten every addition to married life but not an essential part of it". Since a couple need not love to marry, either sex could wed for less romantic considerations. Some couples did marry for love and entered very close relationships. Although a couple "are combined together as it were in one," Calvinists agreed that, even in the closest human relationship, one is always higher, and rules, and the other is lower, and subjected. A minister of the period believed women to be little better than property; concerning a case wherein two men claimed the same woman as wife, he wrote that it took much time "to find who was the right owner of the thing in controversy". The disobedient or contentious wife became one of the world's most despicable creatures, a person no better than a wolf, a wart, a cancer, a gangrene, or even excrement. She must be at his side even if he be "a drunkard, a glutton, a profane swaggerer, an impious swearer, and blasphemer."

Some common words found in the essay are:
Masculine Heroicke, Fear Patsy, Growing Puritan, Anne Hopkins, EDUCATION Education, MYTHS Beginning, World Historians, Virgin Modesty, American Puritans, Hampshire Connecticut, husband wife, colonial america, women colonial america, abject submission, milked cows, family basic, birth male, affection parents, father husband, puritans believed, raising children,
Approximate Word count = 3039
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)