It reminds one of the old joke:
a talmid chacham ask his rebbe if he can smoke during learning Torah. “Of course not!”
He returns the next day and asks “is it OK for me to learn Torah while I’m smoking?” “Of course!”
I don’t know enough to comment about the original question but it seems like the alternative is to tell women they should spend their time studying secular subjects even if they desire to study what is holy. That doesn’t make sense to me.