This article has some nice points about what the girls are learning (team work, discipline etc), but it's not nearly "breaking down barriers" as it seems. I coached swimming for 8 years:

Girls are 10x easier to coach than boys (on average). At that age they are also more coordinated, taller and sometimes stronger.

Also at that age: continual year round well coached practice is infinitely more important than gender. The boys teams in this article are seasonal recreational, while the girls team is a year round club team. I can tell you from swimming that a 5th grade year round swimmer would easily crush a recreational swimmer, regardless of gender, on average.