If you step back from this thread and remember that FFXIV is a fantasy game, this gets even more surreal.

The argument for gender-locking gear is the following:

Certain sartorial conventions that exist in part of our world in 2025 must be rigorously applied to a completely independent society.

It's like supposing that in any bipedal extraterrestrial civilization that might be out there, the women wear skirts and the men wear pants.