Many women back in the early 1600's from England were either tricked or forced  to move to North America. They were promised free land but as soon as they arrived they found out that the land would be taken away if they did not get married within a year. The only women that were really allowed to own land were widows. And even if they did get married within the year, the land automatically went to the husband because the woman now belonged to the man along with all her property. They were forced to live with this because most of the women from England came without any money. They came to get land and make money in the first place. So they were trapped because they couldn't buy their way back to  England. Eventually, women were permitted to own property and businesses.