Male domination is necessary for a society to have net gender equality.

I took the opening note of my first argument from Wikipedia, its reference is United Nations. Report of the Economic and Social Council for 1997, so I would say its legit. While I agree that women are are more prudent about reproduction but saying "As gatekeepers, women regulate which men engage in reproductive activities" is going a bit too far. If a man is denied by a woman, it doesn't mean that he will never have kids! No woman can decide who will and who will not reproduce. Also you base your argument on the fact that women are more selective and cautious towards sexual intercourse. That is true but when it comes to reproduction in real world, that doesn't hold much importance, i'll explain how. Majority of the kids are conceived after marriage. women who conceive before marriage usually say that it was a mistake,so, i will not include that because in this case it wasn't her decision to have the baby. Now, in my experience, everyone who wants to get married, eventually does get married. women maybe more cautious towards sex but when it comes to marriage, i would say men and women are equally cautious and prudent. and even if a man or a woman gets rejected, they find someone else. so, people get married if they want it. now, i don't know about your or other societies but where i live, every married couple tries to have a baby, and most of them are successful. please keep in mind that my argument is based on the majority of the population and not every single person. so in short,most of the reproduction in the society happens after marriage. majority of people who want to get married eventually do get married, may not be the person they intended, but they most of the time find someone. unlike sexual intercourse, when it comes to marriage men and women are equally cautious about choosing their partner. after marriage almost every couple tries to have kids. in this process we never see a distinct advantage to women. "To say reproductive gatekeeping does not accord women "any real influence" in society would suggest the mothers of Einstein, Jonas Salk, Washington, Ghandi, and Moses were all insignificant in the course of society and history. Yet, without these women, their respective children would not be at the particular points in history at which they each proved quite pivotal." Without their mothers they wouldn't have come into being, that's true, but out of everyone who has kids, did they do something radically different? it was just a matter of luck that their child turned out to be an amazing icon. Also, might I point out that everyone who you have mentioned here are men? I am not saying that women are incapable of greatness but they were not 'allowed' to achieve it. of-course there are several women iconic figures now, but if you look back in history, you'l find women icons to be quite a rare species. now, according to me, when we say influencing something, it means being able to change the course of action of something. In a male dominated society, all the positions of power are occupied men. Be it in the government or the household. men and men alone are able to make decisions which govern the course of action. how women can influence the policies of an institution by saying no to sex is beyond me. Perhaps you can give me a practical example for the same? you say that women have an inherent advantage of controlling reproduction. But what about the inherent advantage men have? isn't physical strength an advantage? you say that because of a disparity in input based equality, men should be given more power to achieve 'net equality'. however, i think you have got the subjects mixed up. Men have an advantage over women, physical strength. This is what led to a male dominated society and pushed women to a condition of slavery in earlier times. And now to ensure the net equality women rights and women empowerment programs have come into being. so, men have an advantage over women and women have to be given extra advantages and rights to achieve a 'net quality', not the other way round.