yitayningwut: “and I honestly do not see a basis to prohibit pants for women in a society in which it is the norm.”
That is exactly my point. The only issue is arayos. If the woman is obviously a female (i.e. in a society that would recognize her as such because females wear pants) there is no issue even though she is a feminist and wants to be just like a man. As long as she is recognizable as a female there is no lo tilbash issue. There is perhaps daas yehudis issue. But to confuse the two shows a lack of understanding.