State of equality father respected at first (3)
I believe the answer is:
par
'state of equality' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'father respected at first' is the wordplay.
'father' becomes 'pa' (pa is a kind of father).
'at first' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'respected' is 'r'.
'pa'+'r'='PAR'
(Other definitions for par that I've seen before include "Expected golf hole score" , "average degree" , "What is normal - . . . for the course" , "Average or normal score" , "Standard amount" .)