John Calvin Commentary Genesis 3:16

"Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy conception; in pain thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." — Genesis 3:16 (ASV)

Unto the woman he said. So that the majesty of the judge may shine more brightly, God uses no lengthy debate; from this we may also perceive how useless all our evasions are with him. In bringing the serpent forward, Eve thought she herself had escaped. God, disregarding her quibbles, condemns her. Let the sinner, therefore, when he comes before the judgment seat of God, cease to argue, lest he provoke more severely against himself the anger of him whom he has already too greatly offended. We must now consider the kind of punishment imposed upon the woman. When he says, I will multiply your pains, he includes all the trouble women experience during pregnancy.

It is believable that the woman would have given birth without pain, or at least without such great suffering, if she had remained in her original condition; but her rebellion against God subjected her to inconveniences of this kind. The expression ‘pains and conception’ is to be understood through the figure of hypallage, meaning the pains they endure as a consequence of conception. The second punishment he imposes is subjection. For this manner of speech, Your desire shall be to your husband, has the same meaning as if he had said that she should not be free and at her own command, but subject to her husband's authority and dependent on his will; or as if he had said, ‘You shall desire nothing but what your husband wishes.’ As it is declared afterwards, To you shall be his desire (Genesis 4:7). Thus the woman, who had perversely gone beyond her proper limits, is forced back into her proper place. She had, indeed, previously been subject to her husband, but that was a free and gentle subjection; now, however, she is thrown into servitude.