First things first: You have neglected to mention what you believe to be "well-defined" about a wife's "subjugation" to her husband. If there is some idea that a husband commands and a wife salutes and says "Yes, sir," then that is not the definition of marital submission the Church teaches. A wife is not the inferior, "subject," employee, servant, or minor dependent of her husband. She is his partner or, to put it traditionally, his "help mate," who forms him in sanctity and assists him along the road to heaven. A husband is to love his wife "as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her" (
Eph. 5:25). And how did Christ demonstrate his love and self-sacrifice for the Church? By washing her feet and dying on the cross (cf.
John 13:3-5,
19:32-34).
With this as background, it should be clear that this is the sacramental relationship between a husband and wife, and made possible by the sacrament of matrimony. The relationship appropriate between a husband and wife is not intended to be a template for all male/female relationships; even less so are women to be considered "subjects" of men merely because they are female.
Is a woman subject to the authority of all men or just her husband?
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