The word used for “woman” here in the Greek is 𝘨𝘶𝘯𝘦, which specifically means “wife”. So, right off the bat, this passage does not apply to single, unmarried women. It was not a blanket ban on the female gender preaching, teaching, and leading in the Church.

Paul does not allow the wife to have authority over the husband in the marriage. The word “to have authority” in the Greek is 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘰̄, which is only used this one time in the entire Bible. It doesn’t mean “to have spiritual leadership”. The old KJV translated it correctly – it means to “usurp authority”, or to be seditious, in a marriage.

In a marriage, there is no question that wives should submit to their husbands (1 Cor 11:3-16; Eph 5:22-24; Col 3:18; 1 Tim 2:11-15; Tit 2:4-5; 1 Pet 3:1-6). As long as there is genuine marital submission, these married women can still be spiritual leaders in the house of God, and even become top spiritual leaders over God’s people. This was true of Deborah in the OT, Junia in the NT, and many female bishops, archbishops, and general superintendents of major Protestant denominations today.