An excerpt from Rabbi Chaim Twerski (in the context of Sotah 20a, which states a clear objection to teaching women Torah: “One who teaches his daughter Torah is as if he teaches her lewdness.”):
I have the following family tradition. Someone once challenged the Hafetz Hayyim for his support for Bais Yaakov schools, basing the criticism on the previously cited passage in Sotah. To this person, the Hafetz Hayyim responded that “today, all types of ‘lewdness’ are taught to girls, and you are concerned with the word ke-ilu (‘as if’)! If the Torah will not be taught to girls, they will have no appreciation of Torah values and will be left only with lewdness!”