I think in the long term you are correct. However, in the short term social reform can often engender a reactionary backlash that increases social instability. For a weak state that’s on the defensive against global capital, social reform can be seen as unnecessarily risky. That’s especially true if substantial fractions of the party hold socially conservative beliefs themselves. Personally I agree that not addressing these issues directly is a mistake even if I think care has to be taken to education people and create public support for reform.