In The Scarlet Letter, why did Hester keep her baby's father a secret?

In
seventeenth-century Massachusetts, the prevailing double standard held that women were more
responsible for adultery than men. Women who engaged in extra-marital sex were widely condemned
as brazen temptresses, shamelessly transgressing the bounds of socially acceptable behavior. As
for men, they could suffer damage to their reputations, but they weren't treated with anything
like the same degree of severity as adulterous women. So, by not revealing the identity of 's
father,is trying to protect 's standing in the local community. Although he wouldn't be publicly
branded or banished from the town, Dimmesdale would nonetheless be greatly diminished in the
eyes of his congregation were his adultery to be exposed. As a man of God, he's expected to
maintain the very highest standards of propriety, and fathering a child out of wedlock
represents an attack on those standards.

In any case, it's possible that
Hester wants Dimmesdale to have the bravery to reveal the truth...