Women of the west changed because they played more and different roles in their families and personal lives. What remained the same for them is that even though they have bigger parts to play in their families many of them were still mothers and had to take care of their families, also they were still discriminated against for being women. Women then and today have benefitted from these changes because the women of the west are an example of overtaking discrimination and proving themselves as equals. In a way the women of the west were a stepping stone for the women's suffrage movement.
Women living in the west all viewed their new living situations differently. Some women who had to leave behind family, friends, and the only life and culture they had ever known were miserable, whereas some women thought that moving west was a new beginning and a fresh start from their old lives which they all may have left for many different reasons. Many of the women who did not want to move west gave up on life almost completely and couldn't handle their new way of life, to them it was just to much adapting and they ended up coasting through their western experience longing for the place that they called home. For the women who were looking for a new experience or adventure however they found much of that out west and many made choices that would go against the traditional way a woman should act. Women living in the early west needed to adapt to a rougher way of life very quickly, and needed to learn to help out with jobs that normally would be considered mans work.