During the American Revolution the way women were affected depended on location. Those unlucky enough to be the path of Major Ferguson or General Tarleton had their houses burned and if they had not gotten out of the way of their armies, they were killed. Some women went hungry.
So when the men went off to war, women had to fill in their roles and jobs for them. Before the revolution, women typically stayed in and were seamstresses or maids. When the men left, the women had no income and no way of providing food and shelter and clothing for them and their families, and this is why they applied for jobs and businesses were soon forced to hire them due to the shortage of men. Because of this, women were no longer viewed as inferior to men, and gradually they had equal rights.
