Three major global women’s sport oganisations1 have called for action to immediately withdraw World Athletics’ controversial DSD Regulations,2 and similar regulations enforced by other Olympic movement sport bodies.
Women’s Sport Calls for Global Action on Flawed Female Eligibility Regulations
September 7, 2021
Three major global women’s sport oganisations1 have called for action to immediately withdraw World Athletics’ controversial DSD Regulations,2 and similar regulations enforced by other Olympic movement sport bodies.
These are the Regulations that exclude some female athletes, like Caster Semenya, from elite competition unless they take medical steps to artificially lower their natural levels of testosterone.
On August 17, the British Journal of Sports Medicine published a correction that downgrades the validity of research used to justify World Athletics’ DSD Regulations. The research authors stated that they “recognise that statements in the paper could have been misleading by implying a causal inference” they did not intend. They explained that their “exploratory” findings should not be seen as “confirmatory or evidence for a causal relationship.”
Since the ‘exploratory’ research used to justify exclusion cannot prove a causal relationship, World Athletics must act immediately to withdraw the current DSD Regulations.
As a result, women’s sport organisations have called on the IOC, and International Sport Federations to show leadership on this issue, asking them to immediately suspend such regulations, and to create an even and safe playing field for all sportswomen by ensuring that any future regulations by sport governing bodies are based on independent and robust research evidence.
- Link to the Press Release in English
- Link to the Press Release in French
- Link to the Press Release in Spanish
- Link to the Press Release in Japanese
1 Spokes people from the major global women’s sport organisations driving this call:
WomenSport International https://womensportinternational.org/
- Contact:Dr. Kanae Haneishi Secretary General, Kanae.Haneishi@womensportinternational.org
- Mobile: +(413) 320-3665 (USA) and/or Payoshni Mitra, Co-chair, Sport in the Post-Binary World. Email: payoshnim@gmail.com Mobile: +447960102176 (GB) (also used in signa
International Association of Physical Education and Sport for Girls and Women https://iapesgw.com/
- Contact: After September 12th: Prof (PhD) Rosa López de D’Amico, rlopezdedamico@yahoo.com
International Working Group on Women and Sport https://iwgwomenandsport.org/
- Contact: Rachel Froggatt, Secretary General, rachel@womeninsport.org.nz Mobile: +64 (0) 27 546 5836
2 World Athletics’ Eligibility Regulations for the Female Classification (Athletes with Differences of Sex Development)