We are of necessity a hierarchical society. There are times when people must lead according to their capabilities or the legal framework of society. The majority of history has required men to be physically stronger for combat and hunting purposes and women to be physically stronger for health and child rearing purposes. This naturally led to a situation where alpha males led and more often than not women were lower down the power scale. You can see this in nature with such simple examples as afforded by great apes. If society was forced back into some uncivilised state due to catastrophe then men who could fight would naturally be sought out and people would follow. Rarely but not insignificantly when a true women warrior emerges ( an extreme outlier) then she assumes the dominant role in the absence of a superior competitor.
Society has progressed far enough to no longer rely upon brute strength to enforce will. Where religion , amongst other historical institutions, has been a problem is in the social drag they produce which makes changing attitudes more difficult. Women's rise to a position of equality was available to society centuries earlier than it happened because of these slow evolving institutions of which the bible is a chief culprit ( but also law, education and political structure are significant players.) The largest player however, and the most effective agent of social change is simply economics. Women's long needed rise to equality is only possible insomuch as they have access to their own economic determinence. Thus wealthy women in history are much more equal to the men around them.
The bible and other religious texts were written by a different age and a time when women were disempowered. In that age power was wielded by the sword and people had so little factual information that they were impressed by fairytales and magic. That they are still used as the basis of social interaction or as handbooks about 'truth' and reality is a scourge on society and many people still enslave themselves to imaginary beings, more often than not, mythical males which is a tragedy IMO.
