This has always been a head scratcher for me. We never needed men’s and women’s specific bikes. We do need bikes of various sizes with size specific geometry and size specific builds, which the high end brands have been doing better for a few years now.
If you have relatively long legs and a short torso you may or may not want a shorter reach depending on your arm and hand length, or your ape index. Then you also need to consider overall physical condition and flexibility. And the gals have wider sit bones myth has been debunked many times as over generalized, thus meaningless as a saddle standard. Ideal crank length and crank power are functions of technique, training and conditioning, more so than any arbitrary formula of leg length or bike frame size, and certainly have nothing to do with what sex you happen to be.
Clearly even the high quality production bike brands will make a finite number of frame sizes and geometries out of necessity. But wouldn’t it be nice if dealers offered options to swap out saddles, seat posts, cranks, stems, and handlebars all included in the asking price? I suppose that’s asking for too much consumer indulgence on already strapped LBS. Besides, isn’t customizing and upgrading after purchase part of the lure of cycling culture?
Oh and as for masculine vs. feminine colors, anyone remember the loud colors of the 90s when MTB cycling was really coming into it own? Color norms are personal, social, and even trendy. No big surprise.