Again, from the link John146 posted, an excellent article.
Thank you for that John146.
Colossians 3:18-19
"~The cultures which developed from the Creation seem mainly to have instituted woman in subjection to man and much of the OT is based on this assumption with men being the rulers and important mediators between the gods (or God) and their servants. These are indicators that the set up was assumed to be necessarily as it was being lived out rather than that there was a direct and unambiguous command from God or a reorganisation of man-woman relationships in the Creation following the entry of sin into the world.
The new husband-wife relationship that had been brought about through the Fall seems to have been accepted as the norm for man-woman relationships as well and is rarely - if ever - questioned by those who belong to the ancient cultures represented in the OT.
In such a cultural organisation, it would be difficult for God to have sent a woman to a man-dominated people and to have expected for His voice to be heard
even though we'll see that this is exactly what happened on occasions and the 'norm' seems to be that man was raised up as the mouthpiece through which God chose to speak to the people of the earth.
God also chooses to reveal Himself in male terms - even though we must note that masculine titles were indicative of the entire species of man - both male and female - and that in many places it may mean less than it's normally taken as. Nevertheless, God reveals Himself primarily as 'Father ' and not 'Mother' in the NT, Jesus comes as 'Son' and not 'Daughter' and the vocabulary is predominantly masculine - therefore it would be wrong for us to think of God as choosing both aspects of mankind by His self-choice of male vocabulary.
Even so, we must still remember that both male and female were created to reflect God's image, the nature of Jesus Christ, as individuals and not only corporately as husband and wife. Therefore God is able to show Himself through both man and woman because both were channels in the beginning for the outworking of His nature on earth.
The subservience of woman to man is well attested in the OT and needs little comment - but the Mosaic Law is difficult to accept as being a series of absolute laws which are regulations expected to be taken as equally applicable under the new covenant.
There are some here which should be taken with equal seriousness but the Law brought reform to Israelite culture so that the expression of sin might be restricted and that God might be seen to get His will done through their culture rather than for Him to establish a totally different one which was strikingly different, radical and revolutionary."