Anon is pretty close to the mark.

This charade plays to the autoeroticism at the heart of female sexuality. To be chased – to be an object of desire – gets women going. The higher status the pursuer, the more it satisfies this craving to be the object of interest. The “damsel in distress” part serves the same purpose. When people rush to comfort, console and show concern it further validates the need to be the center of attention.

Some of the best works of art are all about this aspect of the female heart.

So, essentially, this issue is insoluble in mixed sex environments. Where it doesn’t exist both men and women will do their best to create it. This is why, back in the bad old days, men and women more or less agreed to control different domains, and to exert a lot of cultural control (e.g. formal manners, laws, etc) over those where they overlapped.