In its moral doctrines of marriage, the Bible is explicitly gender egalitarian, contrary to what some expect based upon assumption-based, highly superficial misreadings of a handful of isolated passages. Only one single verse before the renowned call for wives to submit to their husbands in Ephesians 5:22, Ephesians 5:21 tells all Christians to submit to each other—but this only could be valid when there is no mistreatment or active pressure to sin. Nothing about this is restricted to husbands and wives, much less to one spouse submitting to the other based on the irrelevant factor of their gender. 1 Corinthians 7:2-5 actually elaborates on very explicit mutual submission in certain matters of marriage.
As for Paul's instructions for husbands to love their wives, there are even more frequent affirmations in the Bible, direct and indirect, of how this would also be strictly gender egalitarian. He says in Titus 2:3-4 that wives should love their husbands and elsewhere affirms that love is a moral obligation (Romans 13:8-10), which in turn is an acknowledgement of Leviticus 19:18, a gender-neutral command for people to love others like themselves. Even based upon the very literal wording of Ephesians 5 and Paul's other writings, it is very apparent that, although it might not always be said in one place all at once, there is no complementarian doctrine of marriage in Biblical philosophy.
Remember, Paul freely admits that there is nothing deficient about Yahweh's Torah commands; he says they are righteous in Romans 7:7, 12, 1 Timothy 1:8-11, and many other places. Marital egalitarianism is not some New Testament "overturning" of sexist imperfect, sexist laws that were somehow obligatory and yet still unjust, a logical impossibility. None of this contradicts the Torah. The Old Testament's Torah laws, which are from God and are not contrivances of Moses based on subjective conscience (Exodus 21:1, Numbers 15:1, Deuteronomy 4:2, and so on), as many who think themselves Christians would claim, in fact do not prescribe gender hierarchy in marriage or otherwise. Besides, New Testament philosophy hinges on the Torah, in actuality, not the other way around. Either the Torah does teach sexist moral obligations and thus those parts of it are false [1] or it contradicts the egalitarian New Testament that says its commands remain true (Matthew 5:17-19, for instance).
Concerning marriage, which is clearly presented in an egalitarian manner when it comes to things like submission and love, is the Bible also egalitarian in allowing women to freely marry particular men or choose not to marry them on their own, without parental or male oversight? Nowhere does the Bible prescribe that women should not exercise personal freedom in choosing whom they will marry or condemn men for not initiating marriage without regard for a woman's assent. At least one of these things would have to taught in order for the Bible to be genuinely sexist against women in this way. More than just never prescribing anything which logically requires that women should not be allowed to choose husbands themselves, it also gives clear moral permission in both Testaments for women to choose their marriage partners. More specifically, these verses are found in Numbers and 1 Corinthians:
Numbers 36:6—"'This is what the Lord commands for Zelophehad's daughters: they may marry anyone they please as long as they marry within their father's tribal clan.'"
1 Corinthians 7:39—"A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord."
Yes, both Testaments, including the allegedly tyrannical, sexist, anti-individualistic contents of the Torah, very clearly say that women are morally free to choose their own marriage partners. Likewise, what the Bible teaches about divorce is gender egalitarian. It never actually says that divorce can only be legitimately initiated by one gender. Divorce or divorce-adjacent passages like Exodus 21:10-11 (which on its own never denies that the rights it ascribes to wives are also held by husbands) with Genesis 1:26-27 and 1 Corinthians 7:2-5, Exodus 21:26-27 with its ramifications for marriage [1], and 1 Corinthians 7:15 are perfectly egalitarian not just in their core concepts, but in their direct wording. A woman is not treated like she has no right to initiate or end a marriage, including in verses like Deuteronomy 24:1-4. A husband is also not any more bound to marry or not marry, to marry a particular person, or to remain in an abusive marriage.
Logic, people. It is very fucking helpful.
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