The Midrash comments that Hashem told Moses on the top of Mount Sinai that he should go down and tell the people how to prepare for the giving of the Torah and specifically to speak to the women before the men and to address them gently . But with the men, they had to be taught in a stern manner. Why the women first? The sages offer various reasons including that the women, thus distinguished, would take on the education of children with greater effort, and that we were redeemed from Egypt because of the merit of righteous women.