Giving women and girls a voice
For years women and girls have been facing unfair, and sometimes unsafe, sport because of trans inclusion – which means male inclusion in women’s teams, events and changing rooms. You can read some background on that here and here is the timeline.
The scale of the problem, and its effect on women and girls, has been concealed by the fear around this issue. A culture of intimidation and silencing has forced women to keep quiet or walk away. This is not inclusion, it’s female exclusion.
Fair Play For Women has heard personal reports from across 35 sports in the UK. From these, we have compiled around 50 personal testimonies representing 25 sports. We have protected their identities because they are worried about reprisals in their sport, or about the possible impact on relationships or on their jobs. Given that women have lost their jobs for expressing opinions about this, they are probably right to be cautious.
Our report gives them a voice. This, the first ever report on the impact of trans inclusion in the UK, shows a widespread problem, affecting many women and girls all over the country, at all levels, from juniors to masters and at all levels of competition and participation. Women and girls are being put at risk and their legitimate concerns disregarded. Their stories debunk the claims that this is a small problem, affecting only a few, and that it does no harm. They include big sports like football, athletics, swimming and cycling, and contact sports like judo, American football, ice hockey and roller-derby.
The report shows six key areas of harm
– Unfair competition and demoralisation
– Losing out on records, rankings or on opportunities to participate
– No consent or being coerced into a mixed-sex environment
– The chilling climate of intimidation, fear and silencing
– Loss of privacy and dignity
– Risking women’s and girls’ physical safety
Fair Play For Women is calling for action
We are calling for action in four areas, to protect female sport before things get even worse.
- Sport governing bodies: Protect the female category at every level, restricting it to those born female.
- Local authorities, gyms and others: Ensure that female changing rooms, toilets and women-only activities exclude all male people, however they identify.
- Schools and clubs: Maintain single-sex provision rather than switching to mixed-sex, so that girls can train and compete without boys.
- Local and national government and other funders: Make protected female-only provision a condition of funding.
Read the report here
Read more:
Sport timeline: how did we get here?
Male inclusion leads to female exclusion
Write to the people who govern your sport