Yes, at least the translations, and possibly the original Japanese wording as well, could be construed as being sexist from a Western perspective. And if human rights are indeed universal, they should apply to everyone on the planet. Ricoh would have been better advised to leave it at "beginners", without any gender-specific references.
However, Westerners have this tendency to take for granted that everyone sees the world in the way they do, and hence must be offended by the same things. The simple fact - anecdotal evidence at best, but still - that JPT's native speaker wife can't see any condescension in the Japanese original is somewhat revealing in that respect. Also, there is some merit in low-pressure learning situations where women or girls can learn about technical matters without being surrounded by droves of male know-alls.
The world of gender sensitivity gets even more complicated if we consider pretty common behaviours and circumstances like the following:
- sexist stereotyping persisting despite more sensitive language
- women themselves announcing (and sometimes showing) that they are "so not technical photographers"
- women seeking male attention by "acting a little blonder" than they would have to (an old but nonetheless quite effective way of bonding)
Of course, none of these "complications" takes away possible issues of overt or covert sexism, but us Westerners also haven't tackled all our issues of culture centrism either, and there remains an area of tension between the two. Plus, language may be a factor that can support change to some extent, but it should not be mistaken for profound and sustainable change itself, and the language shouldn't lose its function as an effective means of communication on the way there. Just my two bits, as usual, without any harm or offence intended.