the women are assessing whether the men are capable of behaving non-destructively, and they end up concluding they aren't. But it isn't specified whether the women are right or wrong.

This would certainly explain how Dan and I could end up with such completely opposed readings. I can see how they could be wrong about men in general--if they cloned new men using those sperm, for instance--but I think about those three astronauts (and by extension what they stand for) they're fairly clearly right.

And I agree with your point about genetic diversity, although it's a small-population effect, not a one-gender effect specifically.

There's some discussion of 'And I Awoke' here.