 Plymouth women enjoyed extensive property and legal rights , unlike in Europe where women had few rights . A wife in Plymouth could not be legally " written out " of her husband 's will and was guaranteed a full third of the family 's property upon his death . Women were parties to contracts in Plymouth , most notably prenuptial agreements . It was common for brides @-@ to @-@ be ( and not , notably , their fathers ) to enter into contractual agreements on the consolidation of property upon marriage . In some cases , especially in second marriages , women were given exclusive right to retain control of their property separately from their husbands . Women were also known to occasionally sit on juries in Plymouth , a remarkable circumstance in seventeenth century legal practice . Historians James and Patricia Scott Deetz cite a 1678 inquest into the death of Anne Batson 's child , where the jury was composed of five women and seven men . 
