Yiddish for You, Too

In The Meaning of Yiddish (1990) Benjamin Harshav undertakes to describe the  relationship between Yiddish and other languages.  It wasn't just a "folk language," he argues: it was deeply rooted into the complex of languages (Yiddish, plus Hebrew of course, but also Aramaic) in the religious life of the community. But even though deeply rooted, Yiddish was a sort of "retail language;" the one used when explaining religious matters to the unschooled.  And since religious life was largely reserved for men, Yiddish became, in a sense, feminized.   Harshaw says:

Yiddish was the language of home, family events, intimacy.   It was the "mama-language," with all possible connotations, negative and positive, which the division implied.

In a footnote, he adds:

Title pages of Yiddish texts would make this humble point.  Often, however, the dedication in the book itself was expanded to read: "for women and men" or "for women and men and men who are like women, that is, uneducated."

Id., aat 13.