Senator Claire Chandler has announced that she is introducing a private members bill “to protect single-sex sport for Australian women and girls”.

In the wake of the controversy surrounding Laurel Hubbard’s appearance in the women’s weightlifting championships at the Tokyo Olympic games, announcements that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was reviewing the rules around transgender and intersex inclusion in women’s sports, naturally raised expectations that the revised rules would bring much needed clarity and re-establish fairness for women in elite sport. As it turns out, the new rules are profoundly disappointing.

The state netball championships held in Brisbane last week attracted attention and controversy for all the wrong reasons. This was because the grand final was won by the Queensland Suns U17s team, an all boys’ team, who decimated the Bond University Bull Sharks girls’ team 46-12.

The world watched this week as transgender athlete Laurel Hubbard ‘made history’ by competing in the women’s weightlifting category at the Tokyo Olympics.

Norway’s women’s beach handball team has been fined over $2,000 for ‘improper clothing’ because they failed to wear bikini bottoms during their game against Spain in Bulgaria. The team members opted to wear bike shorts instead.

Transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard will be the first trans athlete to compete at the Olympic games after being confirmed by the New Zealand Olympic Committee.

Caitlyn Jenner, a former Olympian, California governor candidate and a prominent transgender woman, has said she doesn’t believe transgender girls should compete in girls’ sports because “it just isn’t fair”.

In a rare example of bi-partisan agreement regarding women in sport, Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii) and Republican Rep. Markwayne Mullin (Oklahoma) introduced the Protect Women’s Sport Act to the US House of Congress last Thursday (10^th December). The purpose of the Bill is to ensure Title IX continues to fulfil its original purpose of ensuring equal opportunities for women and girls with regard to all federally-funded education, including sports.

By Rachael Wong

Eight peak Australian sporting bodies have released guidelines for the inclusion of transgender athletes. They are AFL, Hockey Australia, Netball Australia, Rugby Australia, Tennis Australia, Touch Football Australia, UniSport Australia and Water Polo Australia.