II. Woman at the Fall

The superiority of male over female is first mentioned in Scripture as an inevitable consequence of sin not as an inherent quality or right. In the post-Fall order of things God said man would exploit woman's natural "helpmate desire"toward him, or more probably, he would retaliate in the face of her "desire"(cf. Gen. 4:7) to dominate and lead him in order to dominate and subjugate her (Gen. 3:16b). The subjugation of either women or men is a symptom of mankind's fallen nature (cf. e.g., pagan religions).