To put it really simply, it is the Christian husband's role to love, serve, protect, and provide for his wife and his children to the best of his ability. He is both a leader and a servant because in Scripture the two are synonymous. He does not demand respect with his words, but invites it with his actions. Simply by his loving leadership should his wife be compelled to follow, rather than out of begrudging submission at his command.
I find it unbelievably frustrating when I hear of husbands using Scripture to force their wives into submitting. I absolutely hate it. It is NOT the husband's role to make sure his wife is submitting. And it's because of stupid men like that that the roles assigned to men and women in the Bible come across as unfair or degrading.
The reality is that it isn't sinful for men and women to walk outside of the roles God has laid out for us in the Bible, however the people in those marriages that aren't built upon that foundation aren't going to experience marriage in the fullness of joy that would exist in one that is built about that foundation. The Bible gives us a picture in many different ways of God's good design for biblical manhood and womanhood and His good design for marriage. There are some that might think that people who are complementarians and get married exist in a marriage where the husband dominates the wife and the wife shuts up, that couldn't be farther from the truth in the types of marriages I have witnessed. A true biblical complementarian marriage is one where the husband loves and honor and serves his wife to the best of his ability and seeks to lead and encourage and build up his family spiritually while the wife loves and honors and serves her husband by trusting in his leadership as he trusts in God.
Sorry if I came across harsh in any of this, but I really am passionate about this subject. I can't stand all the misconceptions that people tend to have, but they largely tend to happen because people (men especially) will stand on one verse while ignoring the rest of the Bible, and all I want to do is cut their legs out from under them and make them realize how much harm they're doing. [/rant]