Below is what the Bible says..(The part that isn't in red is just my commentary.)
Husbands, lead, sacrifice and give their all for their wife.
Wives submit and respect their husband.
All this is done to mirror the relationship of Christ and the church.
This isn't about a power grab between the two as they wrestle for power. This is about the two mirroring the example set forth by Jesus.
The husband's role isn't one of dictatorial, cold and aloof military leader. The wife's role isn't one of demanding her husband give her things at all costs. Neither should use their husband/wife role as a means to make the other person a doormat or victim.
You can't take away from the fact that the husband must lead, sacrifice and give all for his wife. You can't take away from the fact that a wife must submit to and respect her husband in all things. To do such would be to demean the VERY example this relationship is mirroring. That being the one between Christ and the church.
If one tries to take away from the roles of each, you're basically saying the way Christ and the church operate isn't done right.
Of course there is always a list of 'what ifs' one can ask of the pattern given in scripture for marriage. What if the husband is abusive? What if the wife is this or that? It could go on and on. And the 'what ifs' shouldn't be ignored. But on the other hand, the 'what ifs' shouldn't be used as a means to water down the very image the married couple should mirror.
Ephesians 5
22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”[c] 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.