Why would it be strange for a woman to have a new invention in 1875?

Joseph Niepce made the first permanent photograph in 1822, but he ruined it when he tried to duplicate it. It took him four years to give up trying to duplicate photos, because the earliest surviving Niepce photo was made in 1826.

The only reason I can think of that it would be strange for a woman to have a camera in 1875, is that you had to carry a darkroom with you when you made photographs because the "film" (glass plates, really) had to be made just before exposure and developed right after, and only men are hardheaded enough to haul around hundreds of pounds of equipment. Women artists would have painted with watercolor or oils.