Yekke2 – thank you for bringing the sources. I had never heard of this before, so it’s good to know.
Even though R’ Chaim shlita says that women don’t have to be careful about things that cause forgetfulness, I wonder if this is different since the reason it’s a problem might be because it’s disrespectful to the Sefer (and not just because it causes forgetfulness). If that’s the case, presumably, it would be a problem for women as well.
I also wonder if the fact that women don’t HAVE to be careful about these things because they don’t have a chiyuv of Talmud Torah means that they don’t forget their learning if they do these things or do they still forget their learning but it’s not assur for them to do so?
If it’s the latter, then it would still be kidai to be cautious even if it’s not a chiyuv.
On the other hand, I would think that if it does cause them to forget their learning, it would also be assur since they have a chiyuv to try to remember the halachos they have learned so maybe it is in fact the former.