I agree with Bhate. Women are always considered very delicate and emotionally weak.Giving out the body of their loved ones to fire, is definitely one thing they could not do.So may be the people just made it a rule and assigned the job to the male member of the society who are considered more strong emotionally. Don't forget that nature has given such a wonderful gift to women, they can give birth to a new life so may be it was decided that women are less capable of this kind of job. Being a woman myself, I really don't feel like participating in this kind of ritual.For me, it is not being deprived of any kind of rights, just because of being a woman.This is for men and they can handle it well I guess.