In some cases, the traditional boundaries between men and women would therefore tend to fade: In the private sphere, at least. In the outer world, women were still victims of social conventions that forced them to remain in obscurity. Women, whatever their status, were not allowed to sit in on the examination, which was based, among other things, on the knowledge of literary classics and the ability to compose poetry using set poetic forms. No wonder many of them rejected the constraints weighing women's creation and literary status.
