Women in 17th-century New England

The experience of women in early New England differed greatly and depended on one's social group acquired at birth.

Puritans, Native Americans, and people coming from the Caribbean and across the Atlantic were the three largest groups in the region, the latter of these being smaller in proportion to the first two.

The separate colonies that formed around Massachusetts and Rhode Island began as centralized towns that expanded quickly during the seventeenth century.

Native women were able to adapt to the societal changes that followed the introduction of European social, legal, and religious beliefs, while still maintaining their identities within their indigenous tribes.

However, historical accounts of women who arrived as slaves and free people from the Caribbean are scarce, as most written records of their lives were recorded from the viewpoint of white male elites and slave owners, who regarded the women and men they owned as property.

Disparity in material wealth was a major force impacting daily life in places like Plymouth Colony; the recorded inventory of William Pontus in 1652 valued his land, house, and furnishings at thirteen pounds, while in 1654 the estate of "Miss Ann Attwood" recorded the ownership of eighteen tablecloths and sixty-six cloth napkins (not including other assets).

[1] Women were excluded from enacting laws, serving in courts, creating taxes, and supervising land distribution, all of which were government functions.

Anne Hutchinson, a well-known spiritual leader, publicly challenged the male religious authorities in Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Puritans believed that women needed to be educated enough to read and understand religious texts, as their spiritual well-being was of great significance.

Women typically married in their early twenties, and marriage was often arranged by families based on economic and social considerations.