The Gemara tells us that a person is obligated to reach the level of ad d'lo yada (lit."until you cannot distinguish") on Purim. Technically, women are not obligated to fulfill this particular mitzvah. But one must ask (especially if one is a woman fond of occasionally testing the boundaries of proper decorum) whether or not women are permitted, at least in the company of other women, to voluntarily participate in this aspect of Purim celebration. Though the debate surrounding the issue of women drinking on Purim threatens to stir up my old feminist defiance, I came across something in the Mei Hashiloach that clarified the possibility that men and women might actually relate to Purim in very different ways.
The Ishbitzer says that da'at (knowledge) and hakara (consciousness) are discernible to the eye, whereas binah (understanding) lies in the heart. Binah can't be captured by sight, and unlike da'at, only binah has the power to reach the root of what is being perceived.
Da'at is characterized by a clear formulation of ideas that grow out of the desire to explain the unknown. It is somewhat limited by its reductive method of perception: through eliminating what isn't reality, we identify what is. On Purim, we are encouraged to let go of this almost obsessive need for detailed expression. Binah is beyond words, and thus allows us to reach a simpler, more intuitive comprehension. This idea also applies to the tradition of wearing costumes on Purim. Ordinarily, we are accustomed to figuring out people according to visible images; on Purim, we change our clothes as a way of acknowledging their superficial meaning. We say to each other, "if you really knew who I am, I wouldn't have to show you on the surface." With our costumes, we challenge each other to look deeper.
Though all of us contain the forces of binah and da'at, binah is generally portrayed as a female characteristic. Thus, if a woman is inherently more connected to binah, then she does not need to alter her consciousness (on Purim or any other time) in order to reach this level of knowing. Personally, I am not sure that my femininity is so thoroughly actualized! I still need a bit of help understanding my existence at its core, stripped of the externalities projected by my fear and imagination. This Purim may we all be blessed with the ability to perceive truth (in ourselves, each other, in the Torah…) without having to wrap it up in so many complicated words and images - to see reality in its essence using the boundless power of the heart.