the role os women in the agraian societies north of the chesapeake is a controversial subject among colonial historians. some scholars point out that commom law as well as english custom treated women as inferior to men. other historians describe it as "Golden Age" for women. according to this interpretation, wives worked alongside their husbands. they were not divorced from meaningful, productive labor. they certainly were not transformed into the frail, dependent beings much admired by middle-class males of the 19th century.