Gender locked races is pretty stupid.

But the gear thing, thats a bit more complicated.

When we argue "Hey, there should be no gender lock" then what about clothes that reveal a bare chest? While Im sure some people would be like "Ahh yissssssssss bewbs!" we have to actually be a bit real here and know that for the game to maintain its rating (and any semblance of respect) that wont be allowed. The armor would be modified you might say. But then thats a gendered armor set and the exact design aesthetic that would be available to male characters wouldnt be quite available to female ones for obvious reasons.

Im not saying everything should be gendered(as high heals were actually for men in France at first, as an example), its worth noting that saying "Just remove the genderlock on gear" wont exactly be so straight forward and probably wont yield the results people expect. There will still be gendered clothing.