I don't know which era you are referring to, but up until the 1960's women had no control over their health/fertility and many were either burdened with frequent childbirth/infant child raising if they had the means to be home with their kids, or to work in low paying, unhealthy environments if they couldn't, neither circumstance allowing them to nurture and educate those little minds at home. There seems to still be this belief that things were wonderful for women of the past. That may have been true for some members of the upper class, as it also true today, but the majority were stressed, exhausted and often died young.