Chapter two in Nancy Woloch's Women and the American Experience tells of the lifestyles endured by women in the seventeenth century, the roles and struggles of courageous, brave, and strong women in the frontier society. The author begins with the notion that "the contours of the English class structure were lost in transit across the Atlantic and gradually replaced by new ones, the ideology of female subordination, far more basic to the social order, was transported intact and easily replanted in colonial soil." .
Women were even viewed as a "necessary good," as opposed to a "necessary evil." They held the roles of housewife, but often did much more than what is now considered housewife work. Women sometimes took on their husband's role if he passed away and they did not have a son old enough to fill his position. But society may have expected these women to be grateful for their inheritance; but it was often too much for them to handle, like in Dinah Nuthead's case. She was forced to run a print shop, which was very difficult for her considering she was illiterate. .
There were also a great number of women who served as indentured servants or slaves, but were not exactly given the treatment promised to them. Women were often poorly treated as servants, while black women were usually forced to do more fieldwork than white women. .
Some women of the seventeenth century lived under different circumstances than the average colonial women. Native American women played much more active roles in society than those of white women. It has been said that the men are more "idle" while the women do more work than men. Women in tribes even ate separately than the men and even had a separate place to stay during menstruation. Their religious life was significantly different as well. Women could be priests or shamans. There was also a great difference in the roles of women among the Puritans and Friends (Quakers).
