Early reproduction was sexless mitosis. It was the arrival of eukaryotes that introduced sex. Though, the asexual option also still persisted at that microscopic level, for eukaryotes.
But LECA -- the precursor or
last common ancestor of eukaryotes, putatively didn't have distinct male and female gametes (eggs and sperm). Instead, the cell membranes and their contents just sloppily merged (or so
it is speculated). Over the ages they may have distinguished themselves into differing types that eventually became either opposite or
multiple sexes.
When it comes to macroscopic organisms,
parthenogenesis is an asexual method where unfertilized eggs still yield offspring. Obviously, the egg bearers are female. From that, one
might torturously construe that the ovum was more crucial, and the male gamete more a luxury add-on.
To touch back on "multiple sexes"... With respect to humans, incursions of political ideology in biology have tried to interpret "rare" clinical conditions as meaning that humans are actually not sexually binary (in a physical or body context, not merely gender treated as a personality and behavior orientation). The purpose being to relax social persecution and oppression on some population groups in the LGBT+ sphere. It's a recent highlight of how science has been historically vulnerable to both the dark and the utopian sides of mutable secular morality. Ironically, the pseudoscientific attacks of religions might be easier to fend off than the virtuously noble resonances and free-will motivated portrayals of
anti-naturalism in political movements. Due to the former's blatant supernatural elements. (
The Idea of 2 Sexes Is Overly Simplistic)
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mitopatients.org
en.wikipedia.org