Men and Women are fundamentally disparate when it comes to gender equality due to the birthing process. If you were to design the procedure of procreating I doubt that the traditional method is what you would come up with. In 2013, with such medical advances that we can fix brain issues with a tiny wafer it seems backwards that women are still giving birth naturally, having to endure nine months of carrying the child, worrying about what they eat and drink, and then of course the act of labour, with the possibility of other physical problems occurring to their own bodies.
The BabyGrow project is a theoretical idea of a company that would enable gender neutralisation within the process of repoduction. Couples would provide the company with their sperm and egg and then their baby would be grown for them in an external 'pod-like' environment. This allows the female to continue with her life outside of pregnancy just as her male counterpart, meaning she does not need to take maternity leave and put her career on hold. It also means that the male in the relationship is equalised in terms of his importance during gestation, due to traditionally the woman getting most of the attention, support and emotional connection.
It can be argued that this idea already exists within the concept of surrogate mothers, which to a degree is true, but BabyGrow does not need to rely on any physical mother figure, meaning that another being does not have a really strong presence in your childs life.
Doctors have already been developing artificial wombs using cells from the lining of womens wombs and growing them around a biodegradable scaffold. The cells grew into tissue and the scaffold dissolved. Then they took embroys and implanted them into the artificial wombs and discovered that the embroy attatches itself to the womb and settles down.
BabyGrow does not allow for genetic engineering or designer babies as it is created to enable prospective parents to continue with their lives normally during pregnancy and not to select or alter the hair colour or any attributes of their potential children.
