“I find that almost every Shabbos, a halachic sheilah comes up that no one is sure of the answer to”
“and it isnt in the Mishne berurua? IOR they dont have access to one? Or they cant read it?”
Most women have never learned Mishna Berura. It’s not taught in Bais Yaakovs. Even in non-Bais Yaakovs, if it’s taught at all, it’s usually only taught in seminary, and many girls do not continue formal inside-learning after one year of seminary.
I suspect that there are many men who also do not know how to look things up in the Mishna Berurah. I also suspect that there are many men who think that they know how to look things up in the Mishna Berurah, but do not (or make mistakes more often than they should).
Furthermore, not all sheilahs (even the daily/weekly type) can be answered by looking it up in the Mishna Berurah. In some cases, this is because it’s the type of topic that has to be learned in depth, so if you have already learned the sugya, you might be able to just look it up in the MB on the spot, but otherwise, you might not be able to.
In many cases, it involves something that did not exist yet in the times of the Mishna Berurah. In some cases, we don’t posken like the Mishna Berurah. In some cases, the Mishna Berurah leaves it as a machlokes and does not posken.
In some cases, the halacha is not clear, so even after studying it in depth, one would still have to ask a sheilah. (I know that when I learn halacha, I have had questions such as these, and some of them are questions that should arise for many people on a daily basis, although it’s possible that they haven’t learned enough to know there’s an issue).
And there are probably other things that are not discussed in the Mishna Berurah for some other reason. Also, if it’s not in Orach Chaim, the Mishna Berurah won’t help.
When I said that I see questions coming up on a regular basis, what I see happening is: women and children who don’t have the background to look it up themselves, so they either ask their husbands or they ask me.
When they ask their husbands, sometimes they know, and sometimes they say they don’t know, and sometimes they think they know but they are wrong. I have had to correct people and been thanked for it, although sometimes I was too uncomfortable to say anything, but that was probably wrong on my part.
When they ask me, the first two apply, and probably the third at times as well, but I hope not, and I am trying to be careful about that.