First, the "dude it's an alpha, wait for the beta" comments by people who obviously don't know what alpha means are getting very boring. Actually the aim of alpha stage varies between companies, but the one we use at my workplace is :
Alpha : expect critical bugs, feature set is not final and can be changed anytime. In other words, this is the time to sensibly add/remove/rework/replace features.
Beta : expect major bugs, feature set is to be considered stable. Goal of the stage is bug-hunting and fixing, feature modifications should ideally be tweaks only, additions non-existent with highly restricted exceptions.
Following that definition, I don't see why glitches and texture bugs should have more priority than this kind of feature request. Actually this feature is a major one because it implicates a lot of production issues such as modelling/texturing numerous assets, recording mo'capped animations and voice acting. Not much code I guess, but still quite a lot of money.
Secondly, saying this isn't high priority now is just bollocks. Priority largely depends on what the customers want. As this is now the third most upvoted issue on the community tracker, I guess that makes it a high priority issue...
To sum up : yes, it is, by software development standards, a high priority, major feature request totally consistent with what you would expect from alpha stage feedback.
Lastly, even if my/your purely personnal statistics says most women aren't interested in combat or not fit for it, it doesn't mean it's an universal truth. Some women are ready, willing, and more adequate to combat ops than the average Joe. European armies have women, even in non-combat units, I wouldn't want to get in a fight with.
"I don't want to shoot women" was the stupidest thing I've heard in ages and was only beaten by the argument about game ratings in western countries, in which the legislator that ban a game just because you shoot women in it would get sued in no time by feminist lobbies. Or even by me, because it is so moronic I would gladly make a case against it.
I actually could make my female friends more interested in combat just by showing them this page, as I bet they would then gladly learn how to kick the shit out of some very "knowledgable reporters" commenting on this feature request.
A shame, really.