The submission of wives was already well known in the ancient world. Similarly the submission of children and slaves had been taken for granted. In this passage the headship of husbands, parents, and those in any kind of management is certainly not a one-sided autocratic authority. It requires a mutual submission of members with many different gifts, of whatever sex or age or class, to one another. Listeners submit to whoever is teaching or giving a prophecy.
Pastors submit to the flock.
Those with gifts of healing attend to the sick. All are to serve and love all others in the family. And the mutual submissions of husbands and wives to one another is one part of this surprising new kind of organism. Although we have no evidence to explain how Paul shifted so radically from patriarchy to mutuality we cannot resist hazarding a guess as to the kind of situations which might have helped him change his mind. This meant that they became disciples of the Word of God on the same basis as men.