In the Anguttara Nikaya the Buddha comments than one of the onerous things about being a woman is that she is always subservient to a man (S.IV,239). This was not said by way of approval but only as an observation on how things are (or were), a ‘suffering’ (dukkha) for women. All this together is hardly a ringing endorsement of the idea that a woman must take an inferior position in marriage and render authority to her husband.