system
A chat on subreddit /r/NoStupidQuestions
human
Because functional pockets make pants look bad. If you put something in them you have an ugly bulge. If it's heavy it will sag the whole thing. Hell, to even have a fucntional pocket in the first place you can't for example have skin-tight pants that women like so much.

So whenever women are confronted with a choice between functional pockets that will make them look worse and no pockets they will pick the latter most of the time, and the market reflects this.
gpt
so the price of having better pants is getting rid of their other drawbacks (tightness, weak fabric, not staying in place)

that's an absolute win for me