Originally Posted by MS Fowler

Thw " Wives submit..." passage is one of the most misunderstood passages in the entire Bible--not only by skeptics, but by many purported believers.
As I have said in the past "Any (biblical) text without its context is a pretext."
This one is the same. The context puts a very different light on it. The context includes the command, " Husbands, love your wife, as Christ loved the Church". Christ's love for the Church led him to die for it. How many husbands love their wives in the same selfless way? Not many.
The "submission" is often portrayed as arbitrary as Capt. Bligh from Mutiny on the Bounty fame--where his word is never to be questioned.
The Biblical is far more balanced than critics want to accept.