Actually, only for about the past 5k years or so. For the vast majority of human history, women were not subservient to men. That being said, this sort of "course correction" taking place today from 1950s mentalities is inevitable and men who actually want to be in a happy relationship with a woman would do well to pay attention to what you've said.
Amongst mobile forager groups, enforced egalitarianism was an important survival strategy as well, one that included food sharing, communal child-rearing, and the purposeful teasing and shaming of anyone who started to get too many ideas about their own importance. Those who did not respond to these gentler methods of correction were either banished or executed.
Greco-Roman gender norms are also often assumed. It’s only recently become more widely understood just how many prehistoric women were hunters, including hunters of big game, but it makes perfect sense to me.The more skills that each individual has for feeding and protecting the tribe, the greater chance of survival — for everyone. And because foragers tend to spend only about 15–20 hours per week “working” there is ample time for leisure, which quite often includes playing with and caring for children — something that again, both men and women do in modern forager tribes. Why would it have been any different in ancient times?
