Pythagoras had women as disciples but then Greek philosophy turned fully towards concepts and abstraction and most of the thinkers of that time were gay, considerating women inferior.
There was an old priest who said it to me very simple, about where this life lived only in the mind leads humanity, but there is no translation for it, as Romanian language, which is an oral culture, has more dept to the spoken word than the written one. He called it - Pustiul nefiintei. The deserted land of non-being. We can keep ourselves busy with rituals it doesn't imply they hold meaning.