askchapo

if it were the case that interest in equalizing women and men in sport could be solved by simply having womens and mens leagues then it already would have been the case

It is the case. They recently made F1 Academy which is the women's league and it's certainly a step up above formula 4.

why they aren't just in F1 if they're incredible, and is the answer simply that teams have decided not to hire them

Mouton was a group b rally driver and the skills don't carry over. She was a strong performer in rally cars but going between the two is like putting Usain bolt in a 5k and hoping he wins. Schmitz also didn't have experience in single seaters and was more of a Porsche driver and really loved one track that wasn't on F1 (her name is now written all over the track surface in paint now to memorialize her). Teams would absolutely hire a woman if she was performing well on f2 because it's a hype driven sport. It's not that the teams are misogynist, it's that there aren't any female drivers who could perform in F1 right now because there isn't a talent pool. The concern with putting women into seats in f2 or F1 today is that they'd probably be backmarkers even in top machinery because they aren't quick enough yet. If would just be setting them up to fail.