Having written a few bylaws in my time... I imagine that they are talking about "men" as regards the spouses of the members. If a man was the member and wanted to bring his non-member wife, you would have the same problem -- nonmembers wanting the same benefits as the dues-paying members.
Children are an obvious potential distraction/disruption in a formal meeting, and I can see that non-quilting, non-member spouses might be, too. The goal is to have a focused membership who are there to learn about quilting. Social interaction is nice, but the monthly meetings are often quite structured "business/lecture" meetings.