Veiled elite women in patriarchal cultures could observe without speaking.

Evidence

One highly select urban group was, however, thus enabled; that is, female members of the elites in some of the more excessively male-dominated cultures. Kept in lifelong protective custody behind high walls, these women rarely, if ever, had to confront the problem of dealing with strangers. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 1084

Categorization

• XREF: The gendered structure of the observing self — an important counterpoint to the default masculine flâneur in the reader’s cross-reading.
• QUESTION: The paragraph cuts off here — the point about veiled elite women is cut mid-sentence, worth flagging as incomplete.