In contemporary synagogues, this term is used for the area allocated to women for the purpose of prayer.
And they would come to conduct themselves with inappropriate levity in each other’s company, as the men needed to enter closer to the altar when the offerings were being sacrificed and as a result they would mingle with the women.
Therefore, the Sages instituted that the women should sit on the outside and the men on the inside, and still they would come to conduct themselves with inappropriate levity.
Therefore, they instituted a ruling, in the interest of complete separation, that the women would sit above and the men below" (Sukkah 51b).
On the western side, between the chambers, semicircular steps were built, each one at a height and width of half a cubit (0.23 meters) which led to the court and served the Levites as a platform to stand upon while singing and playing during the Simchat Beit Hashoeva.
A special wooden platform would be built for the king's seat who read the Torah to the people.
This law did not come from the Torah but from a decree by Jehoshaphat the king of Judah to the people, and therefore if they enter its area on the day they are immersed they are not obligated to bring the sin offering.