What was the expectation of women and children of Puritan society?

The most important role for a Puritan woman was that of the mother. Although the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony were overall very healthy, infant mortality rates in the time period were still high by modern standards, and childbirth was a dangerous affair for women. In Puritan New England, any woman having over five children faced a one in eight chance of dying in childbirth. Nevertheless, the high rates of infant mortality, the lack of available birth control, and the drive of the Puritans to create a perfect model society kept Puritan women having children regularly despite the dangers