He isn't defending sexism, he's defending a system that simultaneously is fueled by and generates society's sexism like some kind of infernal perpetual motion machine of evil.
I'm not making a distinction between the two on any grounds but that of technicality.
I realize going directly against 12 thousand years of human history and social norms isn't winning me any points here when it comes to conservatives, who generally consider something valid simply because it was part of the past.