International Chess Federation has some "interesting" ideas about male and female intelligence.

There's that too, coming from the Male Nerds first and foremost at a guess.

 

Yeah, if my college’s WISE program (Women In Science and Engineering) program wasn’t sexist, neither is a women’s-only chess events.

 

There's always been that undercurrent of misogyny, like in most male dominated sports, latent or otherwise: https://www.si.com/more-sports/2018...s-chess-gender-inequality-world-championships

 

There's a fine line. Even things that were originally done in the spirit of inclusivity can later turn into exclusion. In theory a lot of this affirmative actions programs should fall by the wayside over time, assuming they've done what they intended to do to make a more welcoming environment for specific groups. We tend to get calcificed in tradition though, and yes, some of that has to do with misogyny. Misandry occurs as well. We've gotten rid a lot of that in the home for example but it's still rampant in many communities in child rearing.