Dictionary.com defines equality as "1. The state of being equal, 2. Uniformity of character, 3. Statement that two quantities are equal."
In other words: being the same. So yes, if you want men and women to look the same, act the same and blend so seamlessly in to oneness that we each become self-reproducing hermaphrodites then equality would be lovely. If you want however to live in a fully functioning, human world then equality might not be all it's cracked up to be.
Talcott 'Nemesis of the Feminist' Parsons (a nickname I have just coined, I believe) once wrote of the 'instrumental male' and 'expressive female' gender roles. A potted summary of this: men enjoy working, prefer to feel economically useful and are better suited to some jobs; women are more family-centric, relate better to children and often see raising a family as their primary role. Let me say here that feminists (generally) hate Parsons for this sweeping generalist theory. They have a point. Not all women want children. Some men want to be house-husbands. So Talcott is wrong, isn't he?
No. In the same way as examples of a theory being true do not prove it, examples of it being untrue do not disprove it. A hypothesis (according to basic falsification theory) can only be made more or less valid by this process of testing. Karl Popper's example was that all swans are white: his point being that if you sampled nine hundred and ninety-nine white swans (all white) you might say the theory was proven. If the next swan was black, the theory would be proven wrong. But it would still be valid in all but 0.1% of cases.
In my experience men do want to be 'instrumental' and women are naturally more 'expressive.' That might not be one-in-a-thousand true, but it is pretty valid, I think. Granted, Talcott Parsons might not have a firm handle on modern gender roles. He did die in 1979 though, so he can be forgiven for that.
The modern reality is that women can, if they so choose, do any job just as well as a man. That is equality. The modern reality is that, often, women choose not to. That is reality. Often women, feminist-at-heart or not, will decide that having a family trumps having a career.
If you are a career person, male or female, you can get to the top. I will not bore you with examples of female executives, and I would ask you to not bore me with examples of stats which say women are kept down in the workplace. I work in an office, for a mass employer, and there are women in high places. There are fewer women in high places than men. These facts are true. Does it mean women are subverted? You tell me.
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