How stupid should a woman be ?

B"H

The latest edition of the "Jewish Press" is mentioning an interesting subject and actually I have been thinking about it lately anyway. Probably because this Tuesday, someone announced at a shiur that she just got engaged. The wedding is probably taking place before Pessach. The thing bothering me, of course, is the fact that she only saw her fiancée ten times. So far.

My intention is not to talk about her but about the Shidduchim practices in general. I do accept that religious Jews just don't go out and pick up someone in the street in order to get married. Each religious group follows its own customs. Generally, the national religious are more open, the Haredim more closed, whatever. Anybody familiar with the subject knows that the one following these kind of practices could write novels about his experiences.

The article in the "Jewish Press" was bringing up the interesting question if an intelligent woman going to a Shidduch should pretend to be stupid. Isn't it better to find out first who the guy is coming to the meeting ? If he prefers having a wife studying Talmud or at the university or rather someone being at home and raising the kids ?

The conclusion was that many women do think that way and first pretend to be uneducated.

I couldn't believe what I read. Almost the whole female orthodox world is talking about some kind of emancipation. For instance, Talmud study for women has become very popular among the litvishe society in Jerusalem.

How can a young woman undermine her education when she is going or even looking for a Shidduch ? Why not tell the truth and, by the way, who wants to be married to such a guy who wants a rather uneducated woman ? He should look for such a woman from the beginning and the educated woman shouldn' t even take him into consideration. Why pretend ? Only because she is desperate and wants to get married ?

The main question is why men many times prefer an uneducated wife ? Maybe in order to avoid that the wife might find out later that the husband is not the greatest Talmid Chacham as he always claimed ?
Are men in general being afraid of intelligent women ?
I don't see why a woman should not go to universities or study Talmud. And, by the way, I don't think that every man studying Talmud is really made to study it. There are many incapable men as well but obviously no one is telling them the truth.