Equality and difference willed by God
369 Man and woman have been created, which is to say, willed by God: on
the one hand, in perfect equality as human persons; on the other, in their
respective beings as man and woman. "Being man" or "being woman" is a
reality which is good and willed by God: man and woman possess an
inalienable dignity which comes to them immediately from God their
Creator.[240] Man and woman are both with one and the same dignity "in the
image of God". In their "being-man" and "being-woman", they reflect the
Creator's wisdom and goodness.
370 In no way is God in man's image. He is neither man nor woman. God is
pure spirit in which there is no place for the difference between the
sexes. But the respective "perfections" of man and woman reflect something
of the infinite perfection of God: those of a mother and those of a father
and husband.[241]
"Each for the other" - "A unity in two"
371 God created man and woman together and willed each for the other. The
Word of God gives us to understand this through various features of the
sacred text. "It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him
a helper fit for him."[242] None of the animals can be man's partner.[243] The
woman God "fashions" from the man's rib and brings to him elicits on the
man's part a cry of wonder, an exclamation of love and communion: "This at
last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh."[244] Man discovers woman as
another "I", sharing the same humanity.
372 Man and woman were made "for each other" - not that God left them
half-made and incomplete: he created them to be a communion of persons, in
which each can be "helpmate" to the other, for they are equal as persons
("bone of my bones. . .") and complementary as masculine and feminine. In
marriage God unites them in such a way that, by forming "one flesh",[245]
they can transmit human life: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the
earth."[246] By transmitting human life to their descendants, man and woman
as spouses and parents co-operate in a unique way in the Creator's
work.[247]
373 In God's plan man and woman have the vocation of "subduing" the
earth[248] as stewards of God. This sovereignty is not to be an arbitrary
and destructive domination. God calls man and woman, made in the image of
the Creator "who loves everything that exists",[249] to share in his
providence toward other creatures; hence their responsibility for the
world God has entrusted to them.