Tell our politicians to protect women and girls in sport

Tell our politicians to protect women and girls in sport

It is abundantly clear that allowing biological males who identify as women to compete in female sporting events jeopardises fairness and safety for women and girls. Indeed, it effectively eradicates the female sporting category.

In events where power, stamina and strength are deciding factors, athletes who have passed through male puberty have a lifelong advantage that tilts the playing field very significantly in their favour. In addition, transgender inclusion elevates the risk to women’s safety, particularly for contact sports.

Australian sporting champions like Dawn Fraser, Deborah Acason and Jane Flemming agree that biological sex differences matter in sport, and ignoring them defeats the very purpose of a separate female sporting category – namely to ensure women and girls enjoy a sporting chance of success.

Everyone should have an opportunity to play sport, but we need to make sure we have a fair playing field.

The inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sport and the laws and guidelines that govern their participation in Australia need to be addressed.

Sign this petition to federal politicians asking them to address the current failings in law and get a copy of our report – A Fair Playing Field: Protecting Women’s Single-Sex Sport.

Yes, I’ll sign! ▷

 

 

In this report, you’ll get the facts you need to understand key issues like:

  • When does an advantage become an unfair advantage?
  • Why is testosterone so significant?
  • How does trans inclusion limit career progression for young female athletes?
  • Why is Australian law currently failing women and girls?

You’ll also see eye-opening examples of how this is all playing out…

A copy of this report has been sent to every federal MP, asking them to legislate protections for women's single-sex sport. This includes putting the biological definitions of ‘woman’ and ‘man’ back in the Sex Discrimination Act, in order to restore protections for women’s sport and the sex-based rights of women and girls more broadly.

Tell our politicians to protect women’s single-sex sport and get the facts that will help you speak up with confidence to protect the rights and safety of women and girls.

Add your name to this petition and get your FREE copy of our report today!

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5,000 signatures

Yes, I'll sign!

Dear Federal Members of Parliament,

Australia is known as a sporting nation. Like Australians’ strong belief in a ‘fair go’, passion for sport is part of our national identity. And while there is still work to be done, great strides have been made over the years to improve participation, visibility and support for female athletes, at community and elite levels.

However, in Australia and internationally, sporting bodies face increasing pressure to cater for biological males who identify as women in female sporting events. This jeopardises the physical safety of women and girls, fairness in competition, and the full range of opportunities afforded by sport.

Current laws and guidelines – which remain remarkably unpopular with the Australian public – are failing women and girls. The Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (SDA), which was designed to protect women, no longer adequately protects women’s sex-based rights, because having removed the biological definitions of ‘woman’ and ‘man’ in 2013, it no longer recognises ‘woman’ as a sex-based category. When it comes to inclusion in women’s sport and single-sex spaces, it is now generally unlawful to differentiate between women, and males who identify as women.

Everyone should have an opportunity to play sport, but we need to make sure we have a fair playing field. If women and girls are to enjoy the myriad benefits of sporting achievement – health, fitness, camaraderie, personal goal-setting, leadership, character development, career opportunities, sponsorship and more – it is vital you protect the women’s sporting events that previous generations worked so hard to establish.

Like Senator Claire Chandler has proposed in her Save Women’s Sport Bill, I too urge you to legislate protections for women's single-sex sport. This includes putting the biological definitions of ‘woman’ and ‘man’ back in the SDA in order to restore protections for women’s sport and the sex-based rights of women and girls more broadly.  

I trust that A Fair Playing Field: Protecting Women’s Single-Sex Sport will be a useful resource in standing up for the rights and safety of Australian women and girls, and I urge you to read it and take action to protect women and girls in sport.