In her letters to her sister Cassandra, she frequently reported about their friends and acquaintances who had died in childbirth. If they didn't they could wind up with up to 32 pregnancies since contraception was not yet a technology.
Husbands could physically discipline their wives. That was permitted by law, as long as it didn't become extreme.
And unless there was that era's version of a pre-nup, the wife's assets belonged to the husband.
But before all that, it was a real challenge to find a husband. During's Austen's lifetime England was mostly at war. That meant men were sent abroad to fight in the battles. They may or may not return.
The ugly underbelly of that era is captured in the 2013 book "Jane Austen's England" by Roy and Lesley Adkins. That history of the times Austen lived in - and it was only for 41 years - cures lovers of literature of nostalgia for a supposed more simple way of life. At those grand balls there was plenty of angst among the single ladies and their mothers.