Interestingly, I heard a podcast or read a book not long ago (I'd guess John McWhorter, but don't quote me on that) that touched on this, and the author attributed this simplification from the Indo-European norm of heavy grammatical gender to the fact that both Persian and English achieved their modern forms largely as languages learned by adults - the Vikings mixing with Saxons, the various subjects of the Persian Empire - and thus they tended to simplify endings.

Sounds like cannot possibly write a nonneutral text!

It’s still possible to explicitly mention the gender. For example say “that woman” or “the man”. The reader also might get some clues from the context, for example, saying “my dad said…” will reveal some clues about the gender of the subject. It’s optional.