In the weeknight crits I do here in the Dallas area, the women's fields are very small. Like just a handful of women. The promoters have done things to spice things up, like "women race free" nights. And one of the crits is having a special series in honor of a beloved female promoter who passed.
While there are lots of women rec cyclists from what I can tell, at each step up the chain, there are less women. I'm not sure that lack of prize money has anything to do with it. But who knows.