They never aimed to establish a society but if they had they would have argued for equality. They were all women; they’d been at the short end of the stick.

But they settled their community without a constitution, and personalities took their course. It was only a matter of months before the dominant souls were obvious. After the first few struggling seasons, classes emerged.

The few matriarchs of course picked up the reins. They were given a little competition by a set of dowagers, but that struggle didn’t last long. Some of the louder dowagers claimed that they were just as mighty as any matriarch, but they missed the point. Sure they were old and yes they were respected and at least nominally obeyed by their descendants, but dowagers were bereft of their dominant partners and still living in those old dynamics, while matriarchs were inherently powerful and happiest living single. Matriarchs are natural mayors and maestras.

The spinster set was next in pecking order but often on top of the dowagers. Some spinsters were like childless matriarchs and ruled their nieces and nephews as majestically as any mom. And many dowagers were only widows with wealth; they had personalities that were relatively passive compared to the strongest of the spinsters.

Common widows formed the biggest and least powerful class in Bathist communities. These creatures were often without independent means, accustomed to tiptoe and whisper, and unlikely to give anyone a challenge. A few of them spoke out, claiming that they were equal to the dowagers, but they weren’t wealthy or forceful enough to make their point. The widow class included women of divorce because the community in general tried to view a marriage end as a marriage end, whether the end came from law or death, but that equality never really took. The divorcees were more feisty and bitter than the widows; they authored most of the widow-cutting jokes.

It’s always interesting to note what group a society chooses as the butt of its humor. There were Polish jokes in western Europe and the USA at the same time the Poles in Israel (top of that heap) were writing the bathroom book about Yemenis. In Bath communities, any honest citizen will admit that widows have replaced dumb blondes in bad jokes.