Why does Holy Quran equalize the testimony of one man to two women?

Question:
Why does Holy Quran equalize the testimony of one man to two women?

Answer:
It is quite possible that gender and behavioral sciences have not caught up with where the Quran was coming from. I will explain the actual stance via Quranic and historical references and why possibly women are actually more important than men in Islam.
First let’s say firmly both sexes are equal in God’s eyes. In fact Quran explicitly addressed and outlawed the practice of female infanticide prevalent in some Arabian tribes. In verses 3:195 and 4:1 Quran states clearly that men and women are equal and deserve equal respect. The wrong perceptions about women in Islam generally stem from supposed Quranic and Sunnah references around testimony, role of women etc. Each of these can be soundly refuted. To do so would require a mammoth post. If you have specific concerns on these please mention them in comments and I will address them.
Quran does not deal with gender equality directly because gender equality was a socio-political movement in the western world and in the developing world where western thought and education started to permeate. Equality of women as it stands in our consciousness was thus a movement for justice. A concern while tremendously valid simply did not figure in the way the Quran was addressing women.
Instead Quran’s approach was one of equitable distribution of roles. Each gender was assigned roles that suited their physical and psychological strengths. Quran believed that such a synergistic reciprocal approach was necessary to have an optimized nuclear family which was the basis of the Islamic way of life. Thus all the references in Quran to women and men in comparison to women clarify these roles.
Men were given the role of provider of financial means which necessitated that they become heads of the household as it required an outward focus. Women were given the roles of ensuring that the family grew up on a strong moral and knowledge foundation.
What we tend to do is look at the leader of household role and say well that makes men superior. Wrong. If you look at how much time Quran spends on addressing subjects that are under the purview of women and how much it spends on addressing subjects that are under the purview of men it is clear women have the more important responsibility.
In other words, it is the collective conscience of a society that determines them. Also, since the conventions and customs of different societies can be different, these rights and responsibilities can be different in different societies. Who should raise children and look after them, who should cook the food, who should clean the house are all matters in which we must look towards traditions and customs of a society. If they do not contradict the Shari‘ah and are also not against the universal norms of sense and reason, they should be adhered to.”
This clearly shows that not only are the gender roles chosen based on biological and mental strengths they can also be adapted based on society’s norm allowing women to be fully productive and Islamically compliant in modern societies.