I think if you look at the ratio of men to women players on WGT it is probably not much different than the 5 to 1 signup ratio that this tourney has. I personally don't like the multiple elimination idea, that takes the chance of knocking out a good female player out of the game. Someone like Priestess or Dianne81 given 5 chances versus 1 for the rest of us is almost like stealing with their games.
I don't know the solution but we never said it had to be an even numbers although if you were shooting for that you almost have to cut off the bats at 32 and recruit some cats to get them to 32.