What next for sport? - Sex Matters

We are winning in sport. The most popular sports for female participation in the UK – swimming, athletics, tennis, football, golf, netball, cricket and rugby – have all restored a protected female category for competition, along with many others. But the job is not done.

It’s time for action

Every women’s category in sport must be restricted to those who are female.

We’ve seen the brave women in English pool win their fight. But other sports and games are holding out. Some have been engaged in seemingly interminable reviews, which must surely now come to an end. We can all encourage them to do this.

Others adopted post-puberty policies, even though it is proven that male advantage is present throughout childhood. Such policies are more common at international level, where they create a perverse incentive to block a boy’s puberty in order to create the chance of international sporting stardom and riches.

Rules must be enforced

Every sport must make the rules clear, simple and enforceable.

UK Athletics declared its protection of the female category in March 2023 when World Athletics did so, but has yet to publish clear rules for event organisers. Male runners continue to register as female for races, including prestigious events like the London Marathon. When these rule-breakers are reported, event organisers and national federations are sometimes unwilling to intervene, as if it is unkind to enforce the rules. This has to stop. Sport relies on rules that everyone understands and follows. Rule-breakers cannot be indulged.

Recreational sport billed as women-only must be what it claims

Women-only swimming, exercise classes, guided bike rides and so on must be only for women and girls, not for those who “identify as female”. Otherwise they are largely pointless, other than as a validation of adopted identities.

Facilities matter too

Changing rooms and toilets in leisure centres, gyms and swimming pools must be single-sex.

There are two problems here. Too many service-providers have allowed men with trans identities to use the women’s facilities, or have been unwilling to confirm to women that they will not do so. The FWS judgment should give them the confidence, and everyone else the leverage, to insist that a “women” sign on the door means no men.

The other problem has been the move to replace single-sex facilities with so-called “gender-neutral changing villages”. It is becoming increasingly clear that these are a voyeur’s paradise, especially in the smartphone age. Resisting more of these is easier than getting the existing ones changed back.

Why is this still a problem?

Some sports are still dragging their heels, claiming it is complex, or that they cannot police people’s sex. This is nonsense. Throughout the twentieth century, men’s and women’s sport categories worked fine. Everyone knows their own sex, whether they like it or not.

Most sports operate online membership and event entry systems. People must be told to register honestly. Just as with age categories, proof may sometimes be called for. If someone appears to be in the wrong sex (or age) category, the onus is on them to prove their eligibility, not on event organisers to prove the opposite.

Other sports have decided it only matters at some levels. The Lawn Tennis Association adopted female-at-birth rules for interclub competition but not for matches within clubs, even though this is the vast majority of play. Golf has adopted a similar approach, making it difficult for women to have male-free events by claiming that the handicap system will take care of trans-identifying men’s advantage so they can play in women’s handicap events.

Mass participation running events also trivialise women’s ambition and achievements by adopting two-tier rules. London Marathon Events follows England Athletics rules for its top categories in the London Marathon, covering about 3,000 women, but allows sex self-identification for its mass race, covering about 20,000 women. There is nothing in science or law to support this. London Marathon Events runs other large races too, with a similar approach.

The weekly 5K runs organised by Parkrun offer four categories at registration: male, female, “another gender identity” and “prefer not to say”. But it encourages and celebrates men registered as women, allowing them to claim first female finisher, top age grades, and course records (which it has now concealed in a vain attempt to hide the problem). This validation of cross-sex identities is totally unnecessary at Parkrun, since anyone can just turn up and run. Men and women line up together, no one declares anything about themselves, and there are no bib or race numbers to reveal name or sex. The disincentive to women who are bumped down in the results in any race where a man can register as a woman is totally discounted. His need for validation is seemingly all that matters.

What are we doing?

The Sex Matters executive team is maintaining its behind-the-scenes engagement with governing bodies for sport, across the UK, to encourage and assist them in replacing bad policies with lawful, fair ones. We’ve talked to around seventy different organisations, often several times. The Supreme Court ruling is a catalyst for a few more to wake up and see that this needs to be fixed. We’re on it.

Separately, our trustee Dr Emma Hilton has been consulted by some twenty international federations. Advisory group members including Cathy Devine, Tracy Edwards, Professor Jon Pike and Mara Yamauchi are also involved in shaping sports policies.