NROL4W does acknowledge that many women cannot do a large number of pushups, that is why they are included in the program. I doubt any of the authors would disagree that pushups are better than bench presses if the push ups are sufficiently challenging for the sets and reps prescribed.
However for other exercises (eg squat and lunge) bodyweight alone is insufficiently challenging for most men and most women. For some other exercises (pull-up/pull-down or handstand pushup/press) bodyweight is much too difficult again for most men and most women.
It would be counterproductive to her goals to not work all of the body in a balanced program because she arbitrarily excluded weights.
I'm not sure that I think bodyweight exercises are less complex or less hard than barbell or dumbbell exercises. If you are doing either one such that it is not hard, why do it at all? As for complexity. Most bodyweight exercises are similar to their barbell or dumbbell equivalents except that the body is moving through space instead of remaining fixed and moving an object through space. Personally I think the one where the body is moving is harder and more complex. That is why doing a pull-up is harder than doing your body weight on a lat pulldown machine.
Since weights can be adjusted in fine increments they seem like the perfect solution to these problems. Use them when needed and use bodyweight when appropriate (as per the NROL programs).
But again, I don't think the book disagrees with your philosophy. Body weight is used when it is appropriate. Early on body weight is used for increasingly difficult push-up variations. Later on bodyweight is used for pull ups.
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