The answer, as is so often the case with questions this broad, would vary widely depending on where, when, and who we’re talking about. Your question about exposed skin makes me think you’re interested in the relation to the modern Iranian context, and since I focus on Iran, I’m going to limit my answer to discussing Persian women in Iran after the Islamic conquest. The answer might be slightly different for earlier periods or other geographies. It also focuses heavily on the Safavid era (1501-1736), which is not quite medieval, but many of the norms of that time were established during the earlier period and remained largely the same.

The lives of Persian women on average were fairly typical for the pre-modern world, whether urban or rural. In A History of Modern Iran, Abbas Amanat writes that “Iranian women, as elsewhere in the premodern world, experienced a tripartite life cycle: daughterhood, when they were essentially seen as betrothal commodities; wifehood, when they functioned as reproduction units; and motherhood, when they earned power and respect by exerting matriarchal control over their sons.” The extent of this power and authority varied greatly, as did the status of women. However, all women were expected to abide by the norms of dress and behavior dictated by a mixture of Islamic norms and traditional Persian culture.

Shia Islam did afford women more rights relative to both Sunni Islam and other medieval societies: for example, it grants women legal personhood, grants them considerable economic rights nearly equivalent to those of men, could own property, inherit (a lesser share of) property, and in some cases could reject marriage proposals or seek divorce. Shia Islam also endorses a form of “temporary marriage” (siqeh) that, while open to abuses such as prostitution, also sanctioned cohabitation and gave some women agency in their choice of partner. However, as Moojan Moman has argued, “These favorable differences are largely annulled, however, by some specific Shiʿite practices as well as the social realities of women’s lives in Shiʿite communities. Overall, the social position of Shiʿite women throughout the centuries has been more affected by local and cultural factors, rather than religious ones.”

So what were those norms in Persia? They included the division of public life into separate male and female spheres, a measure of socially and legally enforced segregation of the sexes, as well as institutionalized patriarchal dependency on male family members. Women were restricted in terms of movement – they could not travel without a male escort or associate alone with unrelated males. They were expected to outwardly display loyalty and obedience to their male family members and faced limitations on female education and custody of children. Conceptually, women were considered weak, of poor character, too emotional to be trusted with important decisions, not worth educating, and liable to lead men astray if left unveiled.

Many of these norms were common in Persia throughout the medieval period, and even earlier. The tradition of wearing a female headscarf was well established among noble and elite women in pre-Islamic Mesopotamia. This tradition was at first restricted to the elites, and at times it was even punishable for non-noble women to wear it, but over time it slowly spread to become the norm of modest dress. It’s worth noting that this only includes covering the hair – the tradition of face-covering was mostly restricted to Arab tribes. Interestingly, the adoption of veiling by Islam came after the conquest of Iran led to the adoption of some Persian norms, not the other way around.

In spite of these restrictions, women still managed to carve out spaces for themselves at home and in public, especially mothers, widows, and unmarried sisters of powerful men. Women are documented throughout Iranian history as playing an enormous influence as advisors, confidants, and shrewd politicians who were adept at manipulating court politics to protect their offspring and allies. Non-elite women still had an enormous influence at home and were usually the household finance managers. Abbas Amanat calls this a “hidden matriarchy that dominated the fabric of elite society, especially in dynasties of tribal origin.” One feature that set Iranian women apart from other Islamic societies at the time is that during the Safavid period, especially in urban centers like Shiraz, women were known for patronizing artists, poets, and religious institutions. Many established foundations for women and the poor, ran caravansarais and made fortunes, and patronized religious establishments. In the late Safavid era, non-elite women even became major patrons of architectural projects of religious and secular, from madrasas to bridges.

Women played a variety of roles throughout Persian society. At the upper echelon were the married elite women, who could most easily engage in the types of activities listed above. Below them were the variety of middling women engaged in crafts and industrial activities throughout urban areas, often alongside or in support of their husbands or, in many cases, their “temporary” chosen partners. Lower still on the social ladder were women in rural areas, where the segregation and social norms observed in urban settings were looser, but women were more open to grueling economic and sexual exploitation. Slaves to both men and women, both domestic and sexual, occupied the next lowest rung, and were often not Persian but rather Caucasian, Turkish, Arab, African, or of various “outside” origins. These could be acquired in slave trading and through frequent wars and border raids, and non-Persian women played a large role in the harems of the ruling elites, as they were often taken as war prizes, and their treatment could spark further conflict and controversy. Prostitutes were considered the bottom of the social ladder, and were distinct from more socially acceptable forms of sexual servitude like slavery and concubinage.

The position of these more precarious categories of women – prostitutes, dancing girls, entertainers, and the like – could vary widely depending on time and location and sometimes defied social norms. For example, Shiraz was known for a liberal attitude towards prostitution. The Rostam al-Tawarikh gives a contemporaneous account from the early modern period (1750s), more in the early modern period, but describe a long-standing tradition of Persian court life – the patronage of artistically gifted women. One such woman, a Mulla Fatemeh, was known for her “pleasant conversation” and extensive education:

…good natured, tender, and mannerly; never acted presumptuously, always compassionate to the prince and the pauper alike…She knew by heart about twenty thousand select verses from classic and contemporary poets, and could recite them appropriately in every assembly accompanied with tambourine, drum, reed pipe, harp, lute and ka-mancheh.

Despite this description, she was also known for leveling devastating and intelligent critiques of injustice and contempt for women among the clergy, often using their own Shi’a arguments against them. Amanat writes:

“According to the Rostam al-Tawarikh, on one occasion quoting the poet Sa’di, she cautioned Karim Khan about the transitory nature of his power and the egalitarian tyranny of death. The Shiraz environment was liberal enough for Fatemeh not only to utter such sentiments but also to express them in public through poetry and music. At the crossroads of the Vakil bazaar she and her band reportedly performed for the public, no doubt in the face of the ulama’s objections.”

So, in summary: like elsewhere in the medieval world, women were largely restricted by their sex and treated as objects to be controlled by men. However, like elsewhere in the medieval world, they managed to carve out substantial spheres of influence for themselves at various times and could even flout societal norms in the right setting and with exceptional skills. Perhaps moreso than in some societies, women played an enormous role behind the scenes as political advisors and and active participants in courtly politics, and were even able to establish themselves as wealthy patrons of the arts, religion, and public works.

Sources:

Amanat, Abbas. Iran: A Modern History. Yale University Press, 2017

Hambly, Gavin. (ed) Women in the medieval Islamic world : power, patronage, and piety. St. Martin's Press, 1999. See especially Ronald Ferrir's chapter "Women in Ṣafavid Iran : the evidence of European travelers"

Momen, Moojan. Women in Shi’ism, Encyclopedia Iranica, 2011. https://iranicaonline.org/articles/women-shiism