Sport-Conflicting ideas of fairness in women’s sports fuel transgender participation debate

Aug 28 : Recent controversy in the WNBA has reignited the debate about transgender participation in women’s sports, with advocacy groups split over differing ideas of fairness.

Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham has faced a wave of support and backlash for her comments in an ESPN interview last month, saying young girls in sport “shouldn't have to go against biological men”.

That followed updated eligibility policies from the WTA and International Olympic Committee that require athletes to clear one-time SRY gene tests – which help in determining biological sex – to compete on the women’s tennis tour and in female category events at the Olympics.

At the heart of the debate are conflicting views on fairness. Some advocacy groups say only biological women should compete in women’s sports to maintain category boundaries and competitive fairness, while others believe barring transgender women from them is exclusionary and prevents access to sport.

“When you recognise that a category needs to exist in order to include an entire population in sport, you have to define that boundary clearly and protect it,” said Kim Jones, co-founder of the Independent Council on Women’s Sport, an advocacy group for women athletes.

Andrea Florence, executive director of the Sport & Rights Alliance, said the debate drew attention away from other challenges in women’s sports, such as harassment, and that sex-testing policies were harmful. 

“We should be talking about removing barriers (for) women and girls to access sports and not adding to them,” said Florence, adding that the debate “doesn't have relevance in terms of numbers, but it has a big relevance when it comes to narrative.”

INSIDE THE DEBATE

American grand-slam winner Coco Gauff said at a