The man was created first, prior to the woman; the woman is “out of man” and was created “for the sake of the man.” Her qualities are an expression of the man’s honor and dignity, just as the man’s qualities are a reflection of the honor and dignity of God. Therefore the Christian woman should be happy to acknowledge her subordinate position by the modesty and subjection she displays, and she should be willing to represent this visibly by wearing a veil or other material as a head covering. She should not try to usurp the man’s place but should, rather, uphold his headship.​—1Co 11:4, 7-10.

Paul calls attention to the naturally long hair of the women in the congregation to which he wrote as a continuous God-given reminder that the woman is by nature subject to the man. She should, therefore, acknowledge this when performing what are customarily the man’s duties in the Christian congregation, and she should wear some form of head covering besides her hair, which she normally always has. She will thereby show that she recognizes the God-ordained headship principle

Feminine Subjection. The apostle Paul directed that women have on a head covering when praying or prophesying in the Christian congregation. The woman thereby acknowledged the headship principle, according to which the man is the head of the woman, Christ is man’s head and, in turn, God is the head of Christ. Paul said that a woman’s long hair is naturally given to her “instead of a headdress.” The apostle was then writing to the Christians at Corinth, living among Europeans and Semites, with whom this natural distinction between males and females as to length of hair was the case. Slave women and those caught in fornication or adultery had their heads shaved. Paul pointed out that the long hair of a woman was a natural evidence of her womanly position under man’s headship. The woman, seeing this natural reminder of her subjection, should, in consequence, wear a form of head covering as “a sign of authority” on her head when praying or prophesying in the congregation, thus demonstrating before others, including the angels, her personal recognition of the headship principle. (1Co 11:3-16)

As man had priority in human creation, he is given priority of position over the woman. (1Ti 2:12, 13) The woman was made from a rib taken from the man and was bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh. (Ge 2:22, 23) She was created for the sake of the man, not the man for her sake. (1Co 11:9) Therefore, the woman, in God’s arrangement for the family, was always to be in subjection to her husband and was not to usurp his authority. (Eph 5:22, 23; 1Pe 3:1) Also, in the Christian congregation the woman is not to teach other dedicated men nor to exercise authority over them.​—1Ti 2:12.