Kay

“If Paul was meaning generic men and women his argument really makes no sense. So i feel it best to go with husband/wife.”

Mark,
Of course, you feel it best to go with husband/wife – because you are presupposing ‘authority’ into the text before you begin and it’s the only way you can make the headcovering be about showing authority.

Wearing a headcovering was not only a sign of marriage but also respectability and of not being a slave.
So, why wouldn’t unmarried women be functionally equivalent to men since they are not under husband “authority”?