During the English Renaissance women were taught from birth they were inferior to men. They were the only imperfection in God's creation.

Young girls were given hardly any personal freedom and were taught their only function in life was to marry and bear children. The education of girls was for the privileged and the rich. Most girls were taught the wifely arts, how to manage a household, needlework, herbs and wild plants that could be used in healing, meal preparation, and their duty to their future husband.  Husbands of upper class girls were chosen for them by their fathers or other male relatives. Very few men and women of noble birth chose their own partners. The idea of marrying for love was considered bizarre and foolish.

Men were expected and even encouraged to become sexually active before marriage, on the contrary, women who did were outcasts and ruined their chances for a suitable marriage.

Pregnancy was usually an annual event but was extremely hazardous: many women and babies died in the childbed.

A woman's body and her goods became her husband's property when she married and the law allowed him to do whatever he wanted with them.

Infidelity in a wife was not tolerated. Divorces were rare.