St. Thomas - Vir est principum mulieris et finis

"Man is the principle/source and end of woman."

I would like to clarify here what I think St. Thomas means when he calls man the principle and end of woman. First of all, a principle is that from which something else follows. Thus it signifies that woman was made from man. It signifies further the principle as primary and that which follows as subordinate. (The term that Paul used, that man is head of woman, corresponds to the Thomistic concept.) The "end" as St. Thomas uses it means, first of all, that to which another strives, that wherein it finds peace and fulfillment; hence this signifies that the meaning of the feminine being is fulfilled in union with man. End signifies further that for whose sake another exists. Thus, it means that because man needs woman to fulfill the meaning of his being, she was created for his sake. It does not seem to me that this means that woman was created only for the sake of man; for every creature has its own meaning, and that is its particular way of being an image of the divine being. Also, if the sexual relation is not justified by its own meaning and value, it was very possible indeed to assure human propagation by other means. nor do I understand that woman is denigated by having been created "for man's sake" unless it is misunderstood as it very well could be after the degeneracy of both sexes as a result of the Fall, i.e., that she is to serve man's won ends and satisfy his lust. That was not intended for the companion standing side by side with him over all other creatures. Rather, by her free, personal decision to be his helpmate, she enables him to becomes what he is intended to be. For "man is also not without woman," and that is why he must "leave father and mother in order to cling to his wife."

St. Edith Stein, Problems of Women's Education