Those who complain that women have no right to perform sacrifices on their own must remember that men too have no right to the same without a wife.
If they know this truth they would not make the allegation that Hindu shaastras looked down upon women.
A man can perform sacrifices only with his wife. He does them for the well-being of all mankind and for his own inner purity.
It is for this purpose that, after the samavartana following the completion of his student-bachelorhood, he goes through the samskaar called marriage.
Marriage or vivaaha is known as "सहधर्मचारिणीसमप्रयोग". It means (roughly) union with a wife together with whom a man practises dharma.
The clear implication is that carnal pleasure is not its chief purpose, but the pursuit of Dharma.
The shaastras do not ask a man to pursue dharma all by himself but require him to take a helpmate for it.
The wife is called "dharma-patni", "सहधर्मचारिणी", thus underlining her connection with dharma, and not with kama or sensual pleasure.
This is the proof of the high esteem in which the shaastras hold women. The celibate-student and the ascetic alike follow the dharma of their respective aashramas (stages of life) not in association with anyone else.
