Role of Women In Church

As many of you know, John McCain's choice in Sarah Palin has sparked quite the debate in Evangelical Christian circles (as well as just random circles in general) over the ability of women to lead in our government or in church. If you look at Newsweek's website, "On Faith" is a panel that has currently asked the question about women's role in the church. To be honest my friends, I continue to struggle with this very issue to this day. However, we must all agree that if we wish to debate this issue, then Holy Scripture must be our standard. So, here is my problem at hand. I understand most interpret 1 Timothy 3 as restricting the pastorate to men alone because it says "husbands of one wife." Yet, I sometimes feel it is simply assumed from this statement that women are automatically disqualified because it only mentions them as wives. However, this particular Scripture does make for strong evidence against women in the pastorate. Next, we have passages like Romans 16:1 that specifically mentions a "deaconess." Now traiditionally, two theories dominate this occurence. One, their were women that functioned in a servant leadership role in the early church and were given the title of deaconess. Two, this term merely refers to the wife of a deacon. This particular piece of Scripture, more than any other to my knowledge, seems to allow that women could perhaps lead in some capacity. This is notably not necessarily a teaching position of authority like a pastor or elder, but one of service. Therefore, I do not see a theologically issue with female deacons within the local church. In regards to 1 Timothy 2:9-15, I am not precisely certain of what these restricitions refer to. Is Paul talking about something specific to the church where Timothy is? Is he talking about the marriage relationship? Is he talking about a universal rule for churches? These questions become very interesting because the very same Apostle Paul also says that there is neither male or female, but we are all one in Christ. Therefore, I must conclude that I do not yet fully know what I think about women in the pastorate. I have seen some do wonderful work for the kingdom of God. So, to all my biblical scholars out there, what do you think?