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Maybe you should read the scriptures in the language that they were translated FROM. Also, you should clearly try to understand the customs and problems within the early church.

Later in his teachings Paul made it clear that we are ONE and not seperate.

Eph 3:28 "For there is neither Jew nor Gentile, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus".

This teaching was in response to the Judaizers who insisted that all believers must keep the Jewish laws. Paul pointedly projects the basic principle that man ( and *GASP* woman ) is saved by Jesus Christ.

In his letters to the Corinthians who at that particular time was a Roman colony, Paul was emphasizing the problems in the church caused by a cosmopolitan population of Greeks, Romans, and Jews from various parts of the Mediterranean. The situation of the church was so bad that it was considered inferior by even pagan standards. There were problems of gossiping, lasciviousness, harlotry, and many others. Paul's letter to the church at Corinth was in response to a letter from the Corinthian church concerning the situation there.

You are correct in that Paul was addressing the problems that were in the Church. I find that most of the time Paul addresses the problem, then answer it with a question. This statement pretty well sums up the entire problem:

"But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God?" [1 Cor. 11:16].

If you start from the beginning of 1 Cor. you will notice that Paul is addressing the brethern. They were the ones trying to keep the women under the law.

By the way the first preacher was a woman name Mary who ran and told the deciples that Jesus had risen. Jesus told her to tell the others. Jesus gave her permission to preach and speak. So much for a woman speaking wouldn't you say, when the boss Himself approved it.