Bavli Temurah 2b: Women are on par with men

A highlight from Daf Yomi, Bavli Temurah 2b

…And what will R. Judah do with the text: ‘And if he shall at all change’? — It is to include [the exchange by] a woman, and as it is taught: Since the whole context [of exchanging] speaks only of the masculine gender, as it says: He shall not alter it nor change it, whence do you derive that the same applies to a woman? The text therefore states: ‘And if he shall at all change’, in order to include a woman. And whence does R. Meir derive that a woman [can effect an exchange]? — He derives it from the waw [‘and’]. And [what does] R. Judah [say to this]? — He does not interpret the waw. Now according to the view both of R. Meir and of R. Judah, the reason [why the law of substitution applies to a woman] is because Scripture expressly included the case of a woman, but if it had not included it, I might have thought that when she exchanged she was not punishable [with lashes].

Surely Rab Judah reported in the name of Rab and likewise a Tanna of the School of R. Ishmael taught: [Scripture says:] When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit; Scripture thus places woman on a par with man in respect of all the penalties mentioned in the Torah! — You might be under the impression this is the case only as regards a penalty which applies equally, both to the individual and the community, but there, since the penalty does not apply equally in all cases, for we have learnt: A community or partners cannot effect an exchange, therefore in the case of a woman also if she performed an exchange she would not be punishable [with lashes]. Hence we are informed [that this is not so]….

Soncino Translations at Halakhah.com from Talmudic Books:

Reformatted: Temurah (Substitution: 7 chapters, 34 folios) 46 Temurah - free

Original format: Temurah (Substitution: 7 chapters, 34 folios, 253 pages) Tmurah.PDF - free

Kindle! The Soncino Babylonian Talmud tractate Temurah - Kindle Edition - $.99