Were Women not allowed on the 'normal' conference? Or why do we have this separation?
To add to the above, it somewhat, superficially at least, frees women from men's ideology. But again, exposing gender antagonism.
Two, it is what people expect, in a way, so why not take this as a marketing differentiator? Perception can matter more than reality. Basically exploiting 'gender antagonism', as it were. This is a prototypical Lacanian symptom.