That isn't really an artifact of the sport, but of culture, and Anglo-American culture not really valuing women in sports. As has been noted by myself and others, women's sports at any tier are overall nowhere near as popular as men's sports even at lower tiers, they don't have the exposure, money, or popular acclaim that the upper tiers of men's sports have, and likely never will without huge changes to the culture.
In the US at least, men's collegiate sports are much more popular, and bigger business, than their professional female equivalents. Continued segregation isn't really going to change that.
The problems with a mixed-gender tier system are not notable worse than the current female sporting ghetto, and may actually improve things a bit by allowing the best female athletes into the higher tiers dominated by men.
As a matter of full disclosure, I'm not particularly a fan of professional sports as a whole, sport should be more participatory, and less spectacle.