Women in Plymouth Colony had more extensive legal and social rights compared to 17th-century European norms. They were considered equal to men before God from the perspective of the Church. Women were, however, expected to take traditionally feminine roles, such as child-rearing and maintaining the household. Plymouth women enjoyed extensive property and legal rights, unlike European women who had few rights. A wife in Plymouth could not be "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 (rather than 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.<refref name=":Dem70" /> 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.