I think it comes with the territory. Hip-hop was traditionally founded on mysoginistic and abusive lyrics towards women. I realize that it has generally strayed from that ethos but there's still prevailing sexist and gynophobic (unreasoning hatred of women) sentiment in the hip-hop industry. There is certainly a niche in the alternative hip-hop genre to fit genuinely talented individuals (like Erykah Badu), but apart from that I feel that females in the industry are primarily sex symbols (which is utter bollocks).

If it cheers you any, women have more of a stake in hip-hop than non-Americans. =/

The best female rapper of all time IS Lil Kim. In fact she is one of the few people in rap at all, male or female, to come anywhere near to being able to imitate the flow and delivery of Biggie Smalls. On old tapes, she often sounds like the actual female version of Biggie.