More than 600 female athletes have lost a total of nearly 900 medals to transgender competitors in women's sports categories, according to a United Nations report.
Reem Alsalem, the U.N. special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, published the report in August and presented it to the General Assembly earlier this month.
Under a section concerning "Opportunity for fair and safe competition," the report points to policies implemented by international federations, national governing bodies, and some countries that allow males who identify as women to compete in female sports categories.
"The replacement of the female sports category with a mixed-sex category has resulted in an increasing number of female athletes losing opportunities, including medals, when competing against males," said the report titled "Violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences."
"According to information received, by 30 March 2024, over 600 female athletes in more than 400 competitions have lost more than 890 medals in 29 different sports."
Alsalem argued that male athletes had specific attributes, such as higher strength and testosterone levels, that are advantageous in certain sports and can result in the "loss of fair opportunity" for female competitors.
"Some sports federations mandate testosterone suppression for athletes in order to qualify for female categories in elite sports," the report says. "However, pharmaceutical testosterone suppression for genetically male athletes — irrespective of how they identify — will not eliminate the set of comparative performance advantages they have already acquired.
"This approach may not only harm the health of the athlete concerned, but it also fails to achieve its stated objective. Therefore, the testosterone levels deemed acceptable by any sporting body are, at best, not evidence-based, arbitrary and asymmetrically favor males."
Alsalem said violence against women and girls in sports is a serious and systemic human rights issue that demands immediate attention at all levels.
"Women and girls already have many odds stacked against them that impede their equal and effective participation in sports," Alsalem told the General Assembly.
"In addition, their ability to play sport in conditions of safety, dignity and fairness has been further eroded by the intrusion of males who identify as female in female-only sports and related spaces."
Alsalem called for the creation in sport of open categories for those persons who do not wish to compete in the category of their biological sex or convert the male category into an open category.
"Unless sports actors commit to making sport safer and fairer for women and girls, societies cannot fully capitalize on its potential to drive much-needed social change: to achieve sex and gender equality and empower all women and girls," Alsalem said.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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