In colonial connecticut between 1670 and 1719, women participated in one of every six civil cases, the vast majority of which were debt-related. women's participation dropped to one in ten cases after 1719, and to one in twenty by the 1770's. however, as cornelia hughes dayton notes in women before the bar: gender, law, and society in connecticut, 1639–1789, these statistics are somewhat deceptive