On the philosophical note ... : )
I think, there will be a gap for the simple fact that our bodies are different. It's just how we are, how we evolved so far ...
Surely yoass, you are right that to become better you have to be challenged, so in terms of athleticism we are a challenge for women, but should it mean that we have to be the same ... athleticism is just one aspect of our bodies ...
Don't strawman me.
And I do think this is all assumptions here, and assumptions based on simplification to boot. Yes, there are physiological differences, but they're averages in a spectrum. Women are usually lighter and more nimble, but some men are smaller, lighther and quicker on their feet than some women. Men are usually built heavier and more powerful, but some women outbeefcake quite a few men.
The assumption that, when offered a chance to compete, the top women (after adapting by that baptism of fire) will in the end not be able to cope is just an assumption. There's no telling beforehand how that adaptation would take place, player by player. Mima Ito may not outgun Liang Jingkun, but might still be able to outpace him in another way. Agility matters too, and who's to conclude upfront that in the balance between agility and raw power the outcome will always be that raw power beats agility? I'm not one to jump to that conclusion.
So yes, I'd be interested in seeing what happens of women
really got the chance to compete. Over here, competition is mixed — but there's also a women's only competion. The highest ranked players are men, but if you look closer then theres also a (rather large) participation gap. If only 10% of players is female, it's unrealistic to expect 50% of the top to be. Looking at the figures, I think they are at present inconclusive.
Funny thing is, there's a history to this. We had a top female player once who was not permitted to partake in the men's competition, even though she was far above the level of the rest of the females — and at or above the peak level of the men. In the end, she got dispensation, and after a while that got generalized and female players were allowed more broadly to participate in men's competition. Ever since I've encountered women in competion, at every level. And although that's a spectrum too, there seem to be gender-specific nuances in playstyles, technical preferences and tactics.
But there's a lot of legacy there. Girls get trained differently, coached differently, or at least they used to be — and have older girls and women as role models who were taught to play a close to the table pushing, blockiong and countering game, and these patterns drag on in that way too.
I don't know, but I would hold that assuming structural disparity and easy, oversimplified arguments "from nature" don't hold water sufficiently. If we wanted to find out whether or not the women hold up, we'd have to put their feet to the fire. For a long time. Without jumping to easy, swift conclusions.