I don't think her sex is an issue here. The only people mentioning that she's female are the ones defending her. The astrophysicist had actually assumed she was male.

I think you're right that she's got to where she is through skill/intelligence rather than gaming the system. I also think there's a perceived pressure on people in the start-up community to be unrealistically talented and I feel a lot fall to the pressure when they don't really need to.