The event is targeted to women, but they are not exclusionary. Look at the invitation form.
As to your main point, when there is a power asymmetry, I think it is unlikely for that asymmetry to remedy itself without explicit efforts targeted at it.
There is no mention of males involved or invited to come anywhere else, so I'm going to believe that drop down exists to send a "thanks for your support" or is simply an oversight.
I don't have a moral problem with gender exclusive events. It's sexist and exclusionary and that's ok, and I hope the ladies putting on the event feel the same.
I did not, thanks. However, can we agree that a drop down box and a comment buried on HN being the only indications men are welcome to apply amounts to hair splitting when we are deciding whether or not to classify this as a gender exclusive event?
As to your main point, when there is a power asymmetry, I think it is unlikely for that asymmetry to remedy itself without explicit efforts targeted at it.