What is the true position of the woman is relation to the church, the Old Testament vs. the New Testament? There are great women in the Bible. Can they preach and speak on religious issues?
Answer
Your question is very similar to one I recently answered (womanrole.html). In that I pointed out that a woman was not to have authority over a man or to preach/teach when Christian men were present in the assembly of the church. I touched on the fact that women are very important to the church, but did not explain that as fully as your question asks.
In the Old Testament women were not part of the worship in the Tabernacle/Temple. That was the job of male descendents of the tribe of Levi. However, women were very important in certain other aspects of Jewish life. Deborah was a judge over Israel (Judges 4 and 5), as well as a prophetess. As such she exercised a certain amount of power in both civil and religious matters. Esther became a queen and was instrumental in saving her people from destruction, but had no religious involvement that we know about from scripture. Women exercised considerable influence in the home (Gen 21:10; Prov 31:10-31). They were just not part of the temple worship. On the other hand, women were instrumental in leading men away from God; think of Eve, Solomon's wives/concubines, and Isabella (Jezebel).
For the Christian an important question is what is the woman's role in the church of the New Testament, outside the assembly of the church? Since what happens in the assembly, what most people call "in church," is such a small part of the life of the church, what can a woman do outside that assembly? Her foremost role appears to be teaching. This includes the teaching of her children (1 Tim 2:15), the teaching of younger women (Titus 2:3-5), and (through example) the teaching of an unbelieving husband (1 Peter 3:1-6). Thus she may teach Bible classes to younger children and to women. We also find a woman helping in the teaching of an unbelieving adult male; Aquila and his wife Priscilla taught Apollos (Acts 18:24-26).
A married woman is also to be an important helper and supporter of her husband. I think it significant that when Paul listed the "qualifications"/qualities of a deacon (1 Tim 3:8-13) considerable attention is given to the wife of such a man. It almost appears that one of the ambitions a woman in the church who is married to a Christian man should have is to be such a person that she not hinder his ability to become a deacon.
Women are very important to the church. They are often the hands, and sometimes the eyes and ears, of the church. Perhaps this is due to their nature; perhaps it is because they usually make up the largest part of a congregation. They are important to bringing new souls into the church. Instead of their importance, many people focus on the few restrictions on their participation during the assembly. That is the real injustice done to women in the church.