Genesis 1:27-30 tells us
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so
.
This passage suggest equality to me. Both man and woman were made in the image of God. Both were given dominion over the earth. Both were commanded to subdue the earth. Both were given all the plants and trees that bear fruit for their food. There’s no hint of one being above the other.
In Genesis 2 we find the second, more detailed, account of the creation of man and woman.
the LORD God formed the man [e] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
But for Adam [h] no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs [i] and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib [j] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.23 The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman, [k] ‘
for she was taken out of man.”24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
From this account you can begin to wonder whether God created man and woman as equals. This text is the one that patriarchy and complementarian writers quote when writing about the creation of humanity. They focus on the order of creation and the purpose of the creation of woman, and arrive at the conclusion that both were made in the image of God, but woman was made to be in subjection to man.
But if the second account is read from the perspective of equality that the first account gives, it reads only as a more detailed account, in which we are explained how God created Adam first, put him in the garden, and then said that Adam needed a counterpart. Then God created Eve, and it was very good.
Adam alone, not good. Adam and Eve, very good. That’s the message. Man and woman are meant to work alongside each other.
For me, the accounts of Genesis chapters 1 and 2 speak of gender equality. Before the fall, I don’t see that there was any hierarchy.
God loves Women 