Ukshartam l’ot al yadeCHA v’hayu l’totafot bein eineCHA (You shall bind them for a sign upon your hands, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes) would mean that only men should put it on, since the Scripture uses the masculine second-person suffix. As for a tallit, the only biblical commandment involved is to put tzitzit on any four-cornered garment that you might wear in the daytime. Therefore, observant Jews go out of their way to put on such a garment during prayer, in order to fulfill that commandment. But women are exempt from that mitzvah, because it involves a time factor; only by day, not by night, and women are exempt from any positive (do it) commandment that has a time limit, unless it is specifically commanded to them, such as the sacrifices offered after giving birth. This is according to the orally transmitted part of the Torah, later recorded and called the Talmud. There have, however, been a few exceptional women who have, despite their exemption, put on talit and tefillin.