John Chrysostom: Woman was Man's Equal befor Fall

First, then, is the form of government and of slavery by which men have power also over women, there being need of this after sin. Before the disobedience, you see, she was equal in dignity to the man: when God formed her; the words He had used in the formation of the man he used also in the creation of the woman. As He had said in his case, then, Let us make a human being in our image and likeness, and did not say, Let there be a human being, likewise in her case as well He did not say, Let there be a woman, but here too Let us make him a helpmate, and not simply a helpmate but like him, again indicating her equality of dignity.

- John Chrysostom (around A.D. 347 to around A.D. 407), Sermon 4 on Genesis, in St. John Chrysostom, Eight Sermons on the Book of Genesis, p. 63 (2004), Robert C. Hill translator.