Sadly that was a state of facts during those times in most cultures. Hopefully now people understand that it's abuse and that it's utterly wrong. It's a crime in most civilized countries.
It's good to judge the cultural rules that in old times led to what we now consider crimes and abuses. But judging people who adhered to those mainstream cultural rules during those dark times, well, I'm not so sure. I used to condemn those people, but if we go on that path we'll have to condemn 99% of humankind for commiting crimes or for facilitating them. Maybe we should, I don't know. It's a big question mark.