The Watchtower, “Questions From Readers”
“Praying or preaching in the Christian congregation is normally the responsibility of a man. Hence, when a Christian woman cares for matters pertaining to worship that ordinarily would be performed by her husband or by a baptized man, she should wear a head covering.”
The column answers ‘In what situations is it appropriate for a Christian woman to wear a head covering for spiritual reasons?’ and works through cases: praying or conducting a family study in the presence of an unbelieving husband; conducting a study with a baptized minor son when the father is absent; handling a duty at a congregation meeting or a meeting for field service when no baptized man is present; and conducting a prearranged home Bible study when a baptized male Witness is present, because there ‘a study becomes an extension of the congregation’. It also lists cases where no covering is needed: giving oral or sign-language translation, reading the paragraphs aloud, taking part in demonstrations, relating experiences, handling student talks, and speaking to outsiders about the Bible in a male Witness’s presence.
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Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower, Questions From Readers
Confidence note. The full column was fetched from the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read. The quoted sentences fall under the library's page marker for page 26; the passages about a baptized son and about congregation meetings fall under the marker for page 27. The citation code inside the document reads 'w02 7/15 pp. 26-27'.
Corroborated by. src-wom-km-2000-0600-question-box, src-wom-lv-2008-head-coverings
Notes. On p. 27 the column states: 'if the father is absent, then the mother should wear a head covering if she conducts a Bible study with the young baptized son and the other children', and 'A sister would not pray in the presence of a dedicated brother unless there were some exceptional reason, such as the brother's having lost the physical power of speech.'
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-wom-w-2002-0715-qfr-head-covering