Yes, it sounds like she is misunderstanding it in this case. "One-woman show" doesn't imply that it's just a facade, fake project (which she seems to take from "show"), it's just an idiom to say it's something that one person does (not a team).

And usually has positive connotations.

Most of the time you use the "one-woman show" idiom is when you are impressed that one person does this by themselves.

There is not, though. No native speaker of English, which the newspaper of record in Houston, Texas, might be forgiven for assuming make up its primary readership, would ever assume that anything described as a "one-man show" must have a woman hidden away doing all of the behind-the-scenes work.

The idiom means "the work of a single person," and that's it. Nothing else.

This is the Chronicle of Higher Education, not the Houston Chronicle

Doh! Thanks, I missed that.

Probably she didn't say "show" in russian though. Some things are getting lost in translation here.

She laments that The Chronicle doesn't credit her as doing actual work by describing what she does as a "show" instead. (implying that a male is doing the actual devops work behind the scenes)

Except that by saying that it's a "one woman show", they are giving her all the credit for the site, and that's what a fluent English speaker will understand. It's not The Chronicle's fault that she misinterpreted the article.

Translators move things into idiom all the time; "one-man show" (gender is easily swappable) is an idiom that comes from stage, refers to single-actor plays where one person plays multiple roles, and comes with connotations of skill versatility and industriousness.

I read her lament, but it seems to be based on a lack of understanding of the idiom. In English, the phrase "one-person show" implies nothing other than the efforts of a single person to produce something great. There is no denigration nor implication of anything else in the idiom.