The veil: Its history Both the men and the women of the Old Covenant covered their heads in the Temple. That only women should cover their heads was preached by the Apostle of the Gentiles: “But every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered disgraces her head” (1 Cor. 11:5-6). Thus this custom, rooted in Scripture, became a tradition practiced by Catholic women from the earliest days of the Church.
However, I am unaware of any verse more ridiculed or any Apostle more reviled by the feminists. These loud, strident, and academically proud revolutionaries labeled St. Paul a misogynist because they erroneously claim that he based this tradition on his personal opinion. This is not true. The words of St. Paul actually make it quite clear that it is Our Lord Himself who desires and commands women to cover their heads in church as a visible sign of the order He established. The real reason the feminist scholars relentlessly denigrate the Apostle is because of their own mania to place women on an equal level with men and stimulate masculine ways.
It was not only Scripture and Tradition that prescribed women to cover their heads in church. It was also mandated by Canon Law. In fact, the old Canon 1262.2 stated that women must cover their heads “especially when they approach the holy table.” This Canon was never repudiated in those heady days of change that followed Vatican II. It was simply ignored.
Nothwithstanding the fact that women are mandated to cover their heads by Canon Law, Scripture and Tradition, the post-Vatican II Church capitulated on this point with nary a protest. Influenced by the spirit of adaptation to the modern world, a generalized relaxation of formalities in the sacred rituals and a more casual dress for Mass, many women began to leave off the head covering - even though Church discipline had not changed. But everything else was being changed, simplified, relaxed, thrown out or off – why not the veil?
Finally, the 1983 new Code of Canon Law gave implicit approval to this egalitarian trend simply by ignoring all mention of women’s veils.
http://www.traditioninaction.org/religious/d001rp.htm