Yes. It was necessary for woman to be made, as the Scripture says, as a "helper" to man, as a helper in the work of generation, because the human being is yet further ordered to a still nobler vital action, and that is intellectual operation.
Necessarium fuit feminam fieri, sicut Scriptura dicit, in adiutorium viri, in adiutorium generationis, quia homo adhuc ordinatur ad nobilius opus vitae, quod est intelligere.
The noblest vital function in plants is generation. ... Among animals there is a vital operation nobler than generation, to which their life is principally directed; therefore the male sex is not found in continual union with the female in perfect animals, but only at the time of coition.
Non enim est in plantis aliquod nobilius opus vitae quam generatio. ... Et quia est aliquod opus vitae nobilius in animalibus quam generatio, ad quod eorum vita principaliter ordinatur; ideo non omni tempore sexus masculinus feminino coniungitur in animalibus perfectis, sed solum tempore coitus.
It would seem that the woman should not have been made in the first production of things. For the Philosopher says (De Gener. ii, 3), that "the female is a fortuitous male."
Videtur quod mulier non debuit produci in prima rerum productione. Dicit enim philosophus, in libro de Generat. Animal., quod "femina est mas occasionatus."
On the one hand, when looking retrospectively at the particular nature, the female is something disappeared and fortuitous, for the active force in the seed of the male tends to the production of a complete likeness of itself, according to the masculine sex; while the production of woman comes from infirmity in the active force, or from some contrary material arrangement, or even from some transposition by something external, e.g., such as that of a south wind, which is moist, as the Philosopher observes (De Gener. Animal. iv, 2).
Per respectum ad naturam particularem, femina est aliquid deficiens et occasionatum, quia virtus activa quae est in semine maris, intendit producere sibi simile perfectum, secundum masculinum sexum; sed quod femina generetur, hoc est propter virtutis activae debilitatem, vel propter aliquam materiae indispositionem, vel etiam propter aliquam transmutationem ab extrinseco, puta a ventis Australibus, qui sunt humidi, ut dicitur in libro de Generat. Animal.
On the other hand, in relation to general human nature, the female is not something randomly fortuitous, but is ordered by nature's intention as directed to the work of generation.
Sed per comparationem ad naturam universalem, femina non est aliquid occasionatum, sed est de intentione naturae ad opus generationis ordinata.
However, the general intention of nature depends on God, Who is the general Author of nature. Therefore, in the first establishment of human nature, God brought forth not only the male but also the female.
Intentio autem naturae universalis dependet ex Deo, qui est universalis auctor naturae. Et ideo instituendo naturam, non solum marem, sed etiam feminam produxit.
Good order would have been wanting in the human community if some were not governed by others wiser than themselves. So by such a kind of subjection a woman is naturally subject to a man, because in a human being the distinction of reason naturally predominates. Nor is inequality among humans excluded by the state of innocence.
Defuisset enim bonum ordinis in humana multitudine, si quidam per alios sapientiores gubernati non fuissent. Et sic ex tali subiectione naturaliter femina subiecta est viro, quia naturaliter in homine magis abundat discretio rationis. Nec inaequalitas hominum excluditur per innocentiae statum, ut infra dicetur.
If God had deprived the world of all those things which for humans proved an occasion of sin, the universe would have been imperfect. Nor was it fitting for the common good to be destroyed in order that particular evil might be avoided; especially as God is so powerful that He can direct any evil to a good end.
Si omnia ex quibus homo sumpsit occasionem peccandi, Deus subtraxisset a mundo, remansisset universum imperfectum. Nec debuit bonum commune tolli, ut vitaretur particulare malum, praesertim cum Deus sit adeo potens, ut quodlibet malum possit ordinare in bonum.
It is written (Genesis 2:18): "It is not good for man to be alone; let us make him a helper like to himself."
Dicitur Gen. II, "non est bonum hominem esse solum; faciamus ei adiutorium simile sibi."