I agree with the OP with this qualifier. But please define equal in dignity. I would like a more succinct definition.
Equal before God. Not equal at all here below. Or else it would be obvious and no one would deny it.God became man and suffered & died on the Cross to save all future female souls and male souls. A soul possessing the life of God, or Sanctifying Grace, is an indescribably beautiful thing which most don't appreciate here below.
But physically, on this earth, there is almost NOTHING in which men and women are equal. Men even consume more air per minute than women (due to muscle mass and higher metabolism). Arms (womens elbows can bend backwards a bit), legs, bone structure, various body proportions (head width vs. shoulder width), center of gravity, even the digestive system is different. Literally everything is different.
And when you get into mentally and emotionally, the two sexes diverge even more!
As a man once said,
if it weren't for the fact that men & women can reproduce together, a strong argument could be made that "men" and "women" are actually different species.This is painfully obvious to anyone with common sense, but Alas! common sense is no longer so common.
I love the occasional "reality checks" the World gets, when things happen to bring this truth back to the surface. For example, various womens' pro sports teams getting schooled by 12 year old boys during an "informal practice" and stuff like that. I mean, it was never controversial or a "hot take" to say that men are physically stronger than women. That's why pro sports are not co-ed! But today saying that simple truth is tantamount to heresy.
Or the fact that women are *largely* in the same 20 jobs they preferred back in 1920. Only they've been told "do whatever you want!" for the past several decades (at least 50-60 years). But little has actually changed. Women still gravitate towards the same jobs that the "Patriarchy" forced them to do in the Bad Old Days.
Goes to show just how literally insane (as in, detached from all reality) the Modern World actually is.