Halakhah for Megillah 7:5
ואריב"ל נשים חייבות במקרא מגילה שאף הן היו באותו הנס ואמר רבי יהושע בן לוי פורים שחל להיות בשבת שואלין ודורשין בענינו של יום
Joshua b. Levi also said: Women are obligated to read the Megillah, since they were also part of the same miracle. Joshua b. Levi further said: If Purim falls on Shabbat, they ask questions and they offer derashot on the subject of the day.
Peninei Halakhah, Women's Prayer
Yehoshua b. Levi said: Women must drink four cups of wine on the night of the Seder (Pesaĥim 108b), read the megilla (Megilla 4a), and light Ĥanuka candles (Shabbat 23a) “for they too participated in that miracle.”
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Peninei Halakhah, Women's Prayer
However, most commentaries understand that the words “they too” (“af hen”) indicate the primary obligation applies to men (who are obligated in time-bound positive mitzvot) and that women are obligated in the mitzva secondarily because “they too participated in that miracle” (Tosafot Pesaḥim 108b and Megilla 4a, Rashba, Ritva, Ran, Me’iri, and others).
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