Why are female disagreements called "cat fights?"?

A prominent Australian mother and daughter unfortunately had a loud and vocal disagreement in a public place. The media immediately jumped on it and it was headlined as a “cat fight” or a “bitch fight.” Why can’t it simply be what it is, a disagreement, why do you suppose it is portrayed as a sexist or gender based happening? As far as I know, males too, often fathers and sons, have loud disagreements, why do you suppose it is that we don’t have a demeaning name for them?