The "proposed basis for the authority of males over females" comes from
Genesis 3:16, which states,
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
Paul didn't make this stuff up. The Lord God Almighty did, as a consequence to
sin. If you don't like it, and many people don't, you can take it up with
him.
Now this is not to knock women. Without women, man is incomplete. Before Eve, it was "not good". And man got his own bad deal out of this:
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
In fact, sin is not even passed on through the woman, but through the man; though she first ate of the Tree, man is credited with bringing sin upon the human race. After all, man was first created, then woman, so that Adam could have a help meet (suitable) for him. For this reason also, Christ must need have been born of a virgin, that way he would not have original sin (the condition).