Didn't mean to post this as AC:

The difference between men and women is even more drastic in Shogi (Japanese chess).

In order to qualify to become a professional, first you have to enter the Shoreikai and climb all the way to 3-dan (equivalent is amateur 6-dan) before entering a round robin tournament exam against all of the other 3-dan players. The top two get crowned as 4-dan and get to become professionals.

No woman has ever advanced past Shoreikai 1-kyu (amateur 4 dan). Hence, the shogi association created a separate womens league. The titleholders of the womens league are even seeded in the regular championship league, but they almost always lose horribly, and they can almost never beat even the newly crowned 4-dan pros (they have something like a 20% win percentage against male professionals as a whole).