7 And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.

8 If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.

9 And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.

10 If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.

11 And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money.

There were manservants who were purchased to perform the labor of household, but there were also maidservants who were betrothed to be married to the master of the house or one of his sons. Obviously, since the woman was to be a wife, she would not “go out as the menservants” after six years, she would remain a permanent fixture of the dwelling, and she was to be treated the same as a daughter who was born naturally under that household.

If, however, the master of the house changed his mind, he was very limited in what he might do about his marriage contract. If he wished to take another wife, he could, but he could not decrease her own inheritance. Or, he could release her back to where she had come from, but in that case he would receive no return of the price he had paid for her betrothal. It would only come at a loss for him.

I suppose that this arrangement could make an honest man vulnerable to women of ill intent. A young lady could behave kind and charming in order to secure a betrothal from a wealthy man, but once she entered the man’s household she could deliberately make herself bitter, frustrating, and unreasonable until the man just wanted to be rid of her. Then she could be released from her betrothal and play the scam again. However, it makes sense that if there was any asymmetry in the law that it would be tilted in favor of the weaker sex. It was up to the man to be prudent and shrewd, knowing that the woman would be the most protected by the law.