Marry, bear children, manage the house

I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander. Paul's prescribed domestic scope for Christian women, in the same letter as I do not permit a woman to teach.

1 Timothy 5:3–16 addresses the church's enrolled widows — a kind of consecrated order receiving material support from the community. Paul restricts enrollment to widows over sixty (v. 9) and directs younger widows to leave the order, remarry, and focus on the household. Verse 14 names the prescription directly: gamein, teknogonein, oikodespotein — to marry, bear children, rule the house. The verb oikodespotein is unusual: the feminine-equivalent form of oikodespotēs ("master of the house"). Paul gives married women the master-of-the-house role at home, while the same letter (2:11–12) prohibits them from teaching or holding authority in the church. The two come together: the woman's domain is her household, not the assembly.