Women in the Torah are treated differently than men. They don’t have fixed prayers three times a day (only once). They are exempt from positive Torah commandments that are caused by time (like putting on Tephillin, shaking the Lulav, sitting in the Succah, etc.)
Why?
Here is a joke that will answer the question.
There was once a doctor that prescribed aspirin for any ailment a person had. Arthritis – aspirin. Cold – aspirin. Chicken pox – aspirin. A patient asked him – why he does this. He replied “I treat everybody equally – I don’t discriminate!”
Men and women are different, thus they have different laws. Some laws apply to everybody. But other laws take into account differences in people. Like – there are laws specifically for an Israel, a Levi and a Cohen. Laws for Men and for Women. Laws for Jews and Gentiles (the 7 Noahide Commandments).
Rabbi Akiva Tatz explains in his audio lectures – Journey to the Self – Inspiration and Disappointment” that there are two phases in every experience – One beginning phase of initial high spiritual light and then a second lasting light. It expresses itself at times as two stages where initially a person is given a gift and then the effort stage, where he must make an effort.
It is like a father teaching a young child to walk first he holds the hand of the child and then lets go to allow the child to walk on his own.
Some examples:
– When a person meets his spouse for the first time he is enthralled. After marriage he has to work on himself to make the marriage work.
– When a person does Teshuva (returns to observance of the Torah) it is exhilarating and beautiful. After this phase he must work to become closer to the Creator.
– A person is taught the whole Torah in the womb of the mother then he is struck under above the lip by an angel (thus the indentation) and made to forget it. Then afterwards he must make an effort to learn it.
Thus there are two phases. The initial phase and the second. Men are similar to the first light – women are similar to the second light. A man has laws to keep him in sync with time – like the commandments mentioned above. A woman has a natural clock and are more in-tune with time.
A woman who gives birth to a male child is impure for 7 days. For a female child she is impure for 14 days. Why? because a female has a higher potential for purity than men – thus when she gives birth to a female there is greater potential for impurity. For example if you stretch out a rubber band far in one direction it will snap to the other direction far. If you don’t stretch it it will not snap so far.
Why does a woman have a higher potential of purity? I heard once from a lecture of R. Shimshon Pincus is that a woman is like a “creator.” She is able to “create” children. Thus she is very precious in the eyes of Hash-m. This is one reason why a woman has laws of Tzniut (Modesty). Something that is precious is hidden. Like a bank account – people hide how much they have in their bank account. We put gold and jewelry in a safe. Thus a Bat Yisrael (Daughter of Israel) has laws of Tzniut, because of their preciousness to Hash-m, they are enjoined to wear modest clothing.*
Sarah Immeinu (our Matriarch) had a higher level of prophesy than her husband Avraham.
* For a free Card or Booklet on Jewish Modesty see our Jewish Freebies section
(A Hebrew site on Modesty: כתר מלכות – למען הקדושה והצניעות בהכוונת גדולי ישראל)