If you dig deeper, you may find that the pastor is saying what the women of the congregation want to hear, or at least avoiding those things they don't want to hear. It's the wives who currently have the most say about whether a church gets their tithe or not.
I’ve left two churches that were dominated by a bunch of gray, short-haired gals who decide amongst themselves what both scripture actually says and whether or not “feminist” guidelines are followed.
The first thing I do when visiting a church (for any reason, marriage, funeral,etc.) is to open up their hymnal.
Immediately I look for historical hymns (of the past, I’ll admit) to see if the hymn, “Faith of our Fathers,” for example, is present and the words are intact.
Feminist run denominations and many others, immediately scrub hymns for “gender neutral” hymns, then they move to actual scriptures to make them “inclusive,” so as not to “offend” the flock by such things as “Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
I do believe most United Methodist churches (as are most other mainline denominations) do follow their national hierarchy in being “feminist” directed.
I do state that radical feminism has pretty much destroyed most mainline denominations and being a woman of faith, I find that tragic but accept that God has permitted it to “divide the wheat from the chaff,” or correctly define “the sheep from the goats!”
What you relate is a compelling argument against female suffrage.