Event: Supreme Court

A year on from the Supreme Court ruling, female athletes continue to lose out. ADF International and Sharron Davies’ Women’s Sports Union sent a joint letter last week to 10 sporting bodies across the UK, urging them to update their policies to reflect the law on single-sex provisions. It was a simple request: reserve the female category for females, and in doing so, maintain fairness, safety and integrity in sport for all. A week before, it was the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark case, For Women Scotland vs Scottish Ministers, in which it was ruled that the terms ‘man’, ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the 2010 Equality Act refer to biological categories. But the British government, public bodies, and various other institutions are still refusing to alter their policies accordingly. Among the most egregious offenders are sporting bodies across the UK, many of which continue to allow biological men to compete against women. Despite overwhelming scientific evidence that men and women possess different physiological ceilings, even strength-based sports like powerlifting still allow males to compete in the female category. This is due to British Powerlifting’s continued adherence to the International Powerlifting Federation’s 2023 testosterone-based policy, which fails to address the enduring physical advantages conferred by male puberty. Others, like the British Baseball Federation, opt for case-by-case assessments, placing responsibility on ‘team managers, coaches and leaders’ to ensure ‘an unfair situation’ does not present itself. The policy recommends achieving this via ‘pre-game discussions’ with the relevant parties. In other words, ‘fairness’ is likely to be decided by the loudest voice in the room. Rounders England takes a similar approach, with its female-talent pathways – up to and including the national level – open to anyone who identifies as female. Its 2024 policy, which assumes ‘no intent to… gain any competitive…