[Evangelical]

Are all those bible commentaries I quoted and GotQuestions.org "Catholic spin doctors" ? Or are you talking about the translator's use of the male pronoun "he" or "his" rather than "they"? Was it a cleverly crafted spin by the Catholics to convince the KJV translators to use all male pronouns? You would prefer to insert wild conspiracy theories than simply admit that you may be wrong. A logical and normal reading of a verse which uses all male pronouns is to conclude that elders are male, not female or "male and female".

Consider the male pronouns in 1 Tim 3:4, which comes after introduction of the wife in verse 2 ("...A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife"):

4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full[a] respect.

If your reading is correct that both the male and/or female are elders, then verse 4 should say like this:

4 they must manage their own family well and see that [B][B]their children obey them , and they must do so in a manner worthy of full[a] respect.

This would be obvious to an average English speaking person, which is why my interpretation is plain and logical and yours is not.