One cannot be more than a helpmeet. It means a helper who is fully up to the task. Don’t disparage the term, use it in its fullest meaning. The PC and feminist crowd is trying to demean sex roles, but they work.
Some outside observers think that Jewish women are second-class citizens because a lot of the public roles, such as reading from the Torah or being part of a minyan, are only to be performed by males. In fact, Jewish women are considered to be inherently on a higher spiritual level, so the men must perform more mitzvos in order to play a sort of catch-up ball. When I see women misguidedly trying to perform the assigned roles of men, such as calling themselves "rabbi" (which is not a permitted role for women, partially for reasons of modesty) or considering themselves part of a minyan, I realize that they are missing the whole point of men and women, and are certainly trying to put their own spin (influenced by non-Jewish influences) on Jewish practices.