I have also been thinking about these things a little bit lately. My church allows (but has never had) a woman to be deacon and to lead the main prayer during sunday morning worship. The "main" prayer is not really what I would call it, I don't know what I would call it. It's lengthy in comparison to the other prayers throughout the service, so it definitely stands out. Something about it raises my suspicion, but I'm not sure if I'm justified or not. I originally thought of the comparison between a woman leading prayer during worship and a wife praying with her husband, but there's an obvious fault in the comparison; one's corporate and the other's private. hmm!