This topic comes up from time to time, and always, the answer is the same. Gender equality is just not possible in any post hunter gatherer society, at least not until after the Industrial Revolution.
Childbirth and its associated mortality risks are always going to leave women at a disadvantage socially. And, if this is problem is somehow remedied and women are treated as social equals, the result will be a mass decrease (or at least stagnation) in population, leaving the civilization in question vulnerable to attack by the nearest patriarchy. Think about it, no woman is going to continuously risk death in childbirth if she can help it.
Also, generally speaking in our species, males tend to be physically larger and stronger than females. So, as an example, if you have 50 men and 50 women competing for 10 positions as warriors, the majority, if not all, will usually be men based purely on strength and ability to defend. And, even if the society manages to get past this, say, with a strong emphasis on physical fitness for both males and females, women are still going to be incapacitated by pregnancy and childbirth, decreasing the fighting population, which will in turn leave the civilization vulnerable to outside attack, as previously mentioned.