Women in the Middle Ages didn't have any basic rights. They were subjugated by their husbands as wives or by their parents as daughters. Women had to follow absolute rules. they worked very hard at home and also some of them had to work shoulder by shoulder with their husbands who delegated many responsabilities to their wives. To illustrate, Margaret Paston who had the responsabilities to manage her husband's business affairs also had to act as a mediator between him and the many people who he was dealing with in the country. Even though she didn't receive any pay for the job, this gave her and all women of the times a little freedom to do something else than household.