Yes french people adhere to the language rules properly, all nouns are masculine or feminine, or plural. There are also the formal and informal words, "tu" and "vous" is the basic example.
Speak to a child always using "tu" (and the tu version of all the words to match, verb etc)
Speak to an adult or elder formally using "vous" (and all vows matches)
Say "vous" the first time introduced in a situation where wish to be polite, but then switch to "tu" (and all matching words!) otherwise the repeated "vous" has sense of keeping a person at a distance, rather than continuing to be polite.
"Ils" does not mean "The males", it means "They i.e. a mixture or males". "Elles" indicates a plural group of females, but I make the mistake occasionally when speaking (not my first language) and no one cares.
It comes from latin roots of the language. It is a big foundation of the language - far beyond describing a person as male or female in the example your child is learning. This foundation and the next steps such as "I am a happy child" (happy will change in ending depending on whether use masculine or feminine version of child) are very important. It is really not about how the noun identifies, the vast majority of nouns are not people, it's about the structure and grammar!
Adjectives match, pronouns match, verbs match in certain situations, all the words connecting to a noun match...
to the noun
at the noun
of the noun
of which (referring to the noun)
to which (referring to the noun)
my noun
nouns verb-ed
the noun that/who another noun verb-ed
..... and so on for the rest of ma vie!
It's masculine/feminine and singular or plural.
So no, it is all going nowhere, it's a central part of the language. Mistakes with all of these are seen as ridiculously basic can't speak or use language (with understanding in personal situation because at least you're trying, but not ideal in an exam as you'll fail). Or sometimes an error with all the words can result in saying or writing something nonsensical and not understood. This is because french speakers are automatically forming their understanding based on the all the words in a sentence and often the noun isn't directly used, so the other words indicate which noun within a context of many is being referred to.
Plus every exam will be failed when writing, at every level! It's not about men and women or anywhere in between, it's just language and grammar.
Really, it's not an equality thing, unless anyone wants to start arguing of the rights of a table of a chair.
I had a teacher at high school who said, when you lean the noun, don't just learn the word "noun", but also the word for "the noun". Some of the best advice to go anywhere in the language, at any level!
So "un table" and "une chaise". Learn vocab this way or fall apart after basic "my name is" exchange.
For the plural group of nouns, people or otherwise, taking "They" as an example. "Ils" means and is understood to mean a group of nouns that is either mixed or masculine. It is not understood or used as exclusively masculine. "Elles" is used for exclusively feminine nouns. Remember these nouns are more often objects than people.
The only changes to the language have been to add a male/female version of a word that was, as originally assigned, is considered limiting or not quite grammatically correct. "Femme de menage" , "woman who cleans" is a hangover from more sexist times, so for politeness ways around this are used. Midwife in english, same problem. Rare but happens in all languages, it's not the grammar.
""Writer" didn't originally have a masculine/feminine noun variation, it does now. Put an "e" on the end. No one really minds though for words like these because it's new, so both are correct grammatically. Choose as you prefer and so long as all your other words match, the meaning is "writer", that's all.
Trans words are not trying to undermine feminist words, just as trans are not trying to undermine feminism (don't start with the crazy please!).