A woman has the choice to wear a head covering if she views it as a sign of her submission to the authority of her husband. However, it is a personal choice and not something that should be used to judge spirituality.

The thrust of 11:7b-9 is that women should wear a head covering because she is man’s glory, i.e., she was created to honor him” (Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, p. 133). Complementarians argue that men not wearing head coverings is in part to distinguish men and women (and their different roles) from one another.

Christian women are not required to wear head coverings today when praying, since the symbol of a woman’s head being covered is different today than it was during the time of Paul (at least in many cultures). Consequently, Paul’s argument from creation is only indirectly linked to the need for head coverings.

So is the requirement to wear head coverings still appropriate for women in the church today in our culture? We believe the answer is no, because the act of wearing a head covering has no inherent spiritual value apart from the significance assigned by culture.

In the middle east, where Paul was from, it was common for women to wear head coverings. In both Israel and Corinth, women usually kept their hair long. In Greece, women would shave their heads to indicate they were temple prostitutes.