I never really got the sense that the proposal was to create something exclusive to women, as such. It’s just something to support them.
I gave an example of my experience as a male teacher above. Another example I could offer is when I first got into web design, I looked up to a lot of the famous web designers/developers who were blogging, writing books, speaking at conferences etc. They were amazing, but all seemed to be overseas, in places like the US and UK, while I was stuck down here in the Land of Exile (Australia). There was this very subtle, back-of-the-mind feeling that we down here somehow don’t have a significant voice in this industry. That probably sounds silly, but that’s how we humans work. If you feel in some way marginalized, you start to doubt your place.
Of course, I soon found out that Australia is full of brilliant web people. It just wasn’t obvious at first. But it makes a difference to have role models in the same boat as you.