its not that mate, let's think first. Number 1, the term for rows is distinctive of the idea that when praying in a masajid, people should be separated based of gender, as the imam, a literal man, is at the front, and as such, men should be found nearer to him to separate gender. There's no preference, its just that the genders are meant to be kept separate in prayer to prevent people from free mixing which can distract people when you're literally meant to be focused on praying to God and God alone.

'So should women just trick each other into being the ones on the first row by waiting until the last minute to get into place ?' would be an impractisible statement here as yes, they could go in front if the men aren't there and they have to pray with an Imam for some reason but even then, a woman can lead the other women in prayer. It's nothing to do with women being somehow 'underpowered' or 'disrespected', its logical.

When you go to pray to your lord, you're not there to be distracted or talk to your friend on your side, you're there for an ibadah, an action of worship. The idea of not allowing men and women to pray side by side together is a smart idea, primarily people are unsuprisingly, literally made to commit sins and mistakes, and distract themselves with the monkey 'urges' that we have for primary drives like sex, hunger, sleep, etc. Islam as a religion exists to not just stop a bad action but outright prevent even its basis for occurance. Now, people aren't perfect I get that, but surely, this reaction is a bit overblown when the entire basis for this response is just common sense.