Yes, there are lots of people who live that way, usually members of the more evangelical type churches and especially those who come from cultures where this is the normal way to do things.
My ex believed all this. I didn't know until I moved in with him. Did it cause friction? Did it cause arguments? Did it cause resentment? Oh boy did it.
He thought I was the abnormal one and what used to really infuriate me was that he would insist that it was impossible to live any other way. Because I could see that actually many of his friends and family and people in his community DID live this way, and had very happy marriages and relationships. It was what they expected and what was normal for them. I respect their right to live that way, and accept it can work. It used to piss me off no end that he would deny that any other way was even possible - he would argue that other types of relationships don't work, no one does it, basically arguing that up is down and black is white and hot is cold, just sounding like a moron. You can accept that other people live in a way you don't want to live, but you can't deny that they live that way themselves.
FFS. Why did I waste so many years...
My problem was I didn't take it seriously enough. It seemed so bizarre to me and his refusal to acknowledge other types of relationships exist so ludicrous I thought it was a wind up to some extent. On a day to day basis it doesn't actually make any difference even if you believe this. It's not about the man constantly bossing the woman about. So it's easy to ignore or minimise. I used to tell myself the hospitals are full of people who say they are Napolean, it doesn't mean they really are. If he wants to say he's head of the household, it doesn't mean he really is.
It was a major contributor to our break up.
He eventually realised that I wasn't going to change, I wasn't going to wait on him hand and foot, and I wasn't going to 'respect' him as a man in the way he wanted. He went off and found himself an alternative who would.
One of his arguments 'for' all this was that a ship can't have two captains. I think it's a common metaphor in those churches as I heard it elsewhere as well. Trying to point out that a home, a relationship, is not comparable to a ship, was fruitless.
The funny thing is that the women aren't half as respectful as the men imagine. The women have their own saying, too. 'The man is the head of the family, but the woman is the neck that turns the head'. I heard that a LOT, usually accompanied by laughter and sniggering at the men. so essentially the women manipulate the men into thinking everything is their own idea/decision, but end up doing what the woman wanted any way. I tried telling ex this, and that I found that sort of relationship disrespectful of the man, and just game-playing on both sides, and that I wasn't interested in doing that, but I think he never quite believed me about it.