quote

"Dervish Hasan understood things differently. He believed that members of this world were responsible for specific duties, but among them there was a group, whether man or woman, who lived under constant trial and tribulation and were wanderers. If this group did not have any means of expression, it would fall to denigration and meanness, or to madness and debility...[others become] the particular group who have no choice but to follow the path of Sufi tradition, for in no other way could they find happiness.

But if women [in a restrictive society] wished to know more, they of course could. The only problem was that from then on they would become wanderers..."

-- Shahrnush Parsipur, Touba and the Meaning of Night