Every Christian woman is obligated to pray during Christian worship in the assembly. Likewise, every Christian man is obligated to pray during Christian worship in the assembly. However, women may not speak in the worship assembly (1 Corinthians 14:34), and only one man at a time is permitted to speak in a worship assembly (1 Corinthians 14:27-31). Yet, one does not have to speak audibly to pray, and the public prayers that are led by Christian men in the assembly are the prayers in which all Christians present participate; the public prayers are led on behalf of the assembled Christians.
Prayer itself is an act of worship, which also occurs outside of worship assemblies. As such, outside of a worship assembly, both Christian men and Christian women pray several times daily. Again, prayers may be audible or silent. By themselves or in the presence of other women or children, Christian women can also pray aloud without violating the respective roles that God assigned to men and to women.
In the first century and preceding centuries, culture distinguished men from women and signified the submission of women to men by women wearing a veil, which covered the head. Consequently, women who prayed were to wear a veil covering their heads when they prayed (1 Corinthians 11:5). Many societies today no longer have the custom of veiling women in public to signify their submission to men, and hence, women in those cultures do not wear veils when praying either inside or outside of the worship assembly. Still, though, the respective, God-given roles of men and women restrict Christian women from praying audibly in the Christian worship or in the presence of men outside of the assembly (1 Timothy 2:8, 12).
