Let us ask ourself the question concerning equality:-
Are my civil rights equal to yours or are they identical to yours?
The law says that the sum of my civil rights ought to equal the sum of your civil rights, not one more, not one less. They also must be the same rights, in other words they must be identical as well in every way.
However, I agree with you that there is a subtle difference between equal and identical. So far, however, I have not come across any argument in favour of the ordination of women where the word ‘equal’ is not synonymous with ‘identical’.