Cosmology
The duality of male and female is the basis of procreation. Heaven and earth is the secondary cause of all manifestation and is the basic pattern from which all of reality was modeled.
Adam is the higher principle at the source of gender division. Like the Creator of the universe, Adam can reproduce a miniature version of himself through a reunion of that polarity. The image contained its own image within itself, completing the microcosm.
Adam is the union of heaven and earth at the cosmic level, and this union translates into a sexual union at the human level. The male is responsible for materializing meaning into seed, and the female is responsible for refining matter into food.
There is traditionally a strong connection between digestion and gestation because the womb is associated with the belly. Therefore, the seed apparently develops where the mother’s own food is being stored.
The father produces the seed that implicitly contains the essence of humanity, and his role is directly connected to heaven and language. Like the earth, the mother provides sustenance in the form of food. She raises food from her own body, first in the womb, and then in the breast.
Scientifically, the man and woman contribute the same amount of information (DNA), while only females express it with matter. The male role is greatly diminished in a materialistic worldview.
The seed consumes the food and turns into the body that hosts its meaning.
(The Language of Creation: Cosmic Symbolism in Genesis - A Commentary by Matthieu Pageau, 2018. Pages 67-69)