Torah Portion: Yisro

[But the seventh day is the Shabbos for Hashem….] Do not do anything that constitutes work. (Shemos 20:10)

It is a negative  commandment to not do melachah-work on the Shabbos day, nor should we allow our sons, servants and livestock perform melachah, as it says: Do not do anything that constitutes work. [This includes] you, your son, your daughter, your slave, your maid, your animal (Shemos 20:10).

Among the roots of this commandment is the purpose that we be free from our normal occupations, in honor of the Shabbos day, in order to affirm in our souls our belief in the creation of the world out of nonexistence — which is like a rope that pulls along with it all the basic tenets of Judaism. Furthermore, apart from recalling the creation of the world, it also leads to the remembrance of the miracle of the Exodus from Egypt: For we were slaves there, and could not rest when we desired to do so; and then Hashem rescued us from their hand and commanded us to rest on the seventh day.

This mitzvah applies in all places and at all times, to both men and women.