It’s not “normative Jewish practice” today. No woman I know, including in Chareidi circles, has to justify why and when and how often they leave their houses. Neither do they restrict their goings and comings to “necessary” things; social visits are certainly not “necessary” but they are very very common. And the frummest of frum women attend Bar Mitzvahs and l’chayims that they certainly aren’t required to attend. If it’s a family simcha, that’s different, but I’m talking about a simcha where you won’t lose any friends by not going. And yet the most chashuve rebbetzins don’t shy away. Why?
I will repeat my earlier question in a way that will perhaps help you to better understand. Why is it that when women get into their cars to go somewhere, you characterize them with frivolous verbiage such as “gallivanting” and “cruising around”? Why don’t you characterize the men this way? For instance, when you said that our bubbes wouldn’t have been caught dead gallivanting around on a horse and buggy, why didn’t you say that it was just fine for the zaides to “gallivant” but not the bubbes? Somehow these snide characterizations only apply to the women, even though the actual activity itself (driving) is identical. I want to know why.