Trans ideology is now a growing threat to female grassroots sport
Until fairly recently, it was considered an unremarkable biological fact that male and female bodies are different and that, within sport, that difference matters substantially. For anyone who believes that biological sex is irrelevant, show them one of the many photographs of a man donning a gold medal, dwarfing a woman on her sports podium, and they will be left scratching their heads. While the debate on sex and gender evolves at pace, sport is one area where most people recognise that biology is crucial.
There is a growing sense within sports policy, however, that while the female category should be protected within elite or professional female sports, the rest of us should budge over. Fourteen million women and girls are regularly active in England – and most of us are not professional athletes. But according to many national governing bodies, those of us within grassroots sport are not important enough to warrant safe and fair play. Instead, we must “be kind” and “inclusive” – and allow men who identify as women to steal our records, medals and opportunities. Whether it’s every Saturday at a park run, or at a fun league girls’ football match, gender self-id is rife within grassroots sport.
Today, Policy Exchange has published a paper which starts from the premise that all women and girls deserve safety and fairness within sport, not just those at the top. It is endorsed by three world-class athletes who worked their way up through the system: Martina Navratilova, one of the greatest female tennis players of all time, Daley Thompson, the former world-leading decathlete, and Olympic medallist Sharron Davies, who had her own Olympic gold stolen from her aged 17 because of the GDR’S doping scandal in the 80s. They argue that for too long, transgender inclusion has been prioritised over the rights of women and girls.
The report shows that, at club, county and other amateur levels, the physical advantages enjoyed by men means that we must protect the female category if the integrity of sport is to be maintained. For example, the winning female from the London Marathon this year would be beaten by the 231st ranking male. Every British long-course swimming record broken by an elite female has been beaten by a teenage boy. Across three different swimming championship race categories analysed, in all but one the slowest winning male would beat the winning female.
There is enough sexism in sport as it is. But the efforts of national governing bodies to overcome the sex gap within many sports are undermined if the same people are willing to disregard it when it comes to accommodating a contested set of beliefs surrounding gender identity. Transgender inclusion is specifically only a threat to female sport – there is no similar threat to male sport. This fact matters when we also understand that sport as a whole is still heavily male-dominated. If we want more women and girls to participate in sport, we need safe and fair play.
Politicians should expect all national governing bodies to do the right thing and protect female sport. If this is not done within 12 months, the Government should withdraw funding. Politicians on all sides must speak out for women – it really is not rocket science, but very basic biology.