The head of the woman is man

The head of every man is Christ, the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. The whole debate turns on one Greek word: kephalē — does "head" mean authority, or does it mean source?

1 Corinthians 11:3 opens a contested passage on head coverings and prayer. The Greek word kephalē ("head") had at least two extended senses in ancient usage: authority over, and source of (as in the "head" of a river). Complementarian scholarship (Grudem, Piper, Ware) argues kephalē always carries authority; egalitarian scholarship (Cervin, Payne, Fee) argues it commonly meant source in Greek. The same verse, two readings. Either way Paul completes the thought eight verses later: in the Lord, woman is not independent of man, nor man of woman (v. 11). Whatever "head" means, Paul insists it does not mean independence-over.