In Jesus' time, almost any association with a woman outside one's immediate family would be frowned upon amongst Jews. The Babylonian Talmud tells of the Galilean rabbi scolded just for asking a woman the way to Lydda.
In first-century Jewish society, women were second-class citizens, banned from the Inner Courts of the Temple, banned from any part of the Temple during their monthly periods, and, at any time, divorceable by their husbands without any right of redress, merely by the writing of a notice to this effect.
Paul's epistles show the difficulty he had with the Greeks who, from their pagan origins, had greater respect for women and treated them with a great deal of equality. Paul in his epistles reflected contemporary Jewish attitudes towards women.