I already understood there was a "workaround", I just wanted to know why that was the case. And the reason is because the GMail option when setting up email on an iOS doesn't provide full GMail functionality.
There were two important points in your post, yes you asked why you could not just click gmail, and push a button for push. It was answered, was made available after the fact and apple just has not put in a button.
You also said gmail cannot be pushed to the iphone. People corrected you, however you appear to be the type of person who cannot be mistaken, incorrect, misinformed, or just plain wrong, so you have some pathological need to call it a "workaround" and say that means you were right all along and that a person cannot push gmail to the iphone. Calling it a workaround doesnt change that a person can easily get push gmail. Call an apple a watermelon and its still an apple. Getting notified on your phone the instant email comes in to the gmail server is by definition pushed. If it required downloading an app, or hacking your phone then that would be a workaround.
Regardless of how, I have push gmail, and it shows up in my notification center too, so I am happy.