Paul is often portrayed as a misogynistic leader, relegating women to a subservient role in the church (and society), a view largely based on 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and 1 Timothy 2:11-12. Certainly, these verses can be taken to mean women should be seen and not heard, and have been used throughout history to justify a male-dominated view of leadership. However, it is difficult to see Paul as a miserable woman-hater when he takes pains to stress the unity and diversity of the church regardless of gender (see Gal 3:28-29) and to emphasise his affection and support for so many women in church life (Rom 16:1-5, Rom 16:6-7, Rom 16:12, 15).
Already in 1 Corinthians, we have seen that a literalist understanding of Scripture, whilst giving us an apparently easier role in terms of exegesis (interpreting the Scriptures), may not be the best approach (see the discussions on 1 Corinthians 8 & 11.) As John Stott comments, there is a need to distinguish between Biblical principles (which don’t change) and the cultural outworking of the principle (which may well change.) This is never easy, though the extremes are. It’s much easier to ban women from any form of leadership than to wrestle with apparent contradictions in the Bible. It’s much easier to adopt modern views of gender equality than to wrestle with Scriptures which affirm the differences between the genders and assert these differences to be God-given (and tampered with at great risk of harm to people.)
Whole books have been written on the question of women in ministry and church leadership; many denominations (including the Anglican church) have grappled with this subject for years. In terms of the passage in 1 Cor 14:34-35, however, there are several different views as to why Paul suddenly mentions the need for women to be silent in the middle of a discussion on spiritual gifts.
That the silence he mentions is not a blanket ban on women speaking in church at all is evident from the fact that he talks of women praying and prophesying in other parts of the Bible (see 1 Cor 11:2-11; 1 Cor 14:26). Female prophets are mentioned in the Old Testament (Huldah in 2 Kings 22 & 2 Chronicles 34; Deborah in Judges 4 & 5, Isaiah’s wife in Isaiah 8:3); we have already considered Philip’s four daughters who prophesied in the New Testament. (Acts 21:9) The notion, then, of total silence from women seems to be at odds with the normative practice of the church throughout history.
Some (e.g. Tom Wright, Lis Goddard) have argued that the silence required from women was because of their disruptive behaviour in church services (given that this comes in the context of church order during services and based on assumptions about the cultural behaviour of women in Corinth, for which there is some historical evidence.) Others (e.g. Wayne Grudem) believe that the silence required refers to the weighing or evaluating of prophecy (which should be left to the wisdom of male leaders). Whatever the conclusion about the specific cultural situation in Corinth, the principle we are left with is that church services should have order (since God is a God of order, not chaos) and that women need to learn submission (see also Ephesians 5:21-24) whilst acknowledging their valuable role in church life.