There are certain sports where men clearly have an advantage, mainly due to physical attributes and of course, ideas have changed since the old days.
Take chess for example. Why would a man consider that a woman wouldn't be up to the challenge? It has a lot to do with machismo of course and anyone who has seen The Queen's Gambit will enjoy the tables being turned. I certainly did.
Here we have a Hungarian girl beating Garry Kasparov who, before the match had said that well, she's only a woman...
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-35483650