The options between genders becomes less interesting when you make men and women equal, at that point you're just picking the gender you want your avatar to be. If you actually portray it historically and show the difference between how men and women were actually treated you could have wildly different game experiences which makes for a more interesting game.
Same goes for "diversity" and "mixed" units, it isn't interesting if nothing happens from it. You get interesting scenarios if certain people don't like another group of people so you have to account and manage for that, similar to how Warband had a morale penalty for being at war with the host faction you had troops from (if you had Rhodok troops and were at war with the Kingdom of Rhodoks) or how Viking Conquest had a morale penalty for having pagans in a Christian party, or vice versa. Your idea of a melting pot of diversity just results in the end result of a melting pot, a bowl of sameiness with nothing notable.