So what's a guy supposed to do?

One particular Akkadian term for intercession, abbūti ṣabātu (“to act in a fatherly way”), illustrates the Mesopotamian view that a primary responsibility of the male head of household was to intercede on his children’s behalf. This expectation of intercession extended to metaphorical fathers and children in the larger “households” making up human and divine society. For example, personal deities (the family’s or individual’s divine “father” and/or “mother”) were expected to intercede on behalf of their charges before the high gods. Images on cylinder seals suggest two primary functions of the intercessor: providing the beneficiary with access to the deity and speaking on the individual’s behalf.—Forestalling Doom page 52

<idle musing>
Maybe the people who are into male headship should take a cue from this! That's about the only place I can see male headship making sense: intercessory prayer! Otherwise it seems to be a head trip and all about power...(boy, that was a rabbit trail...)
</idle musing>