For the introduction of the essay, you can think about the current situation of the gender roles, putting an example would also be a good beginning, using some currebt issues for instant.
You can also use questions to start of an essay.For instance,if you think that female should be able to take up the role of family's financial support, you can say “For thousands of years,female has been taking up the role of the carer of family. However time has changed, are their role still limited in it?”
Quotes can also be used as a way to begin the essay, as long as it matches with the message you want to bring out, especially in formal essays it can make you sound more professional.
One of the key is try to grab the attention of your readers, and the above can help doing so, if you can come up with something else, do give it a go.
Good luck on your essay and hope it helps!