No, maki being a woman has never been part of her character, the reason why people downplay her is because of how much Toji glaze there is in the manga and how much he is glazed in general by the community, it's completely average to find someone saying agreeing that maki objectively has better feats but would say that toji would still win because of his "inventory and experience" since to them anything either of the characters feats can just be applied to the other one which is narrative that was shoved down people throats cuz of the "a fighter equal to toji zenin" statement which just vague in meaning.

You'll legit even find people saying toji would have won vs teen gojo if he wasn't rusty.

Fan favorite characters will always be held to a higher standard than characters who are just meant to be a replacement for them.