Home Office won their appeal in minimum income challenge

The whole thing smacks of sexism to me:
the sponsor is the only one who can supply the income (except in some isolate cases), and women, on the whole, earn less than men. Women also are still generally the primary carers for children, and thus many work part time or flexible hours, making it less likely they will meet the financial requirement. Ipsofacto, women will be less likely to be able to sponsor their husband.

Or is this just racism? In some communities, it is highly frowned on for women to work outside the home at all!

I think it's a lot of things, primarily just anti immigrant sentiment that has resulted in a policy that discriminates against the young, women, and certain cultures. This is all compounded with the fact that full time minimum wage is only about 13k.