Karam Al-Gharib
Patricia Kmach
ENG 204 Section 4
Transwomen Athletes and Fairness in the Female Categories of Sports
Introduction, Background and Significance:
Over the last few years, the field of sports has witnessed rapid development. Sports has always
been a field offering chances to athletes who thrived to prove themselves throughout years of dedication,
hard work, and training. Nonetheless, due to the inclusion of transgender individuals in sports nowadays,
the goal of sports has transformed into a rift between abiding by human rights and achieving competitive
fairness. Taking these factors into consideration, the main question we wanted to address was “Should
transgender female athletes in the Western world be allowed to participate in their new gender’s sports?”
In fact, we were interested specifically in this topic since it represents a growing phenomenon that has
presented much controversy and that has influenced all the western female sports. This research targets
both transgender and ciswomen for the sake of preserving cis-women’s right in having their own
unviolated category in sports. Most importantly, this paper does not target transgender people in a
negative or offensive way; rather it objectively approaches the topic through the discussion of factors
proven to hinder sports’ equilibrium. In other words, our aim is that female sports competitions are kept
fair. Thus, our claim is that western sports federations should put restrictions on transgender female’s
participation in cis-women’s sports. Our claim is supported by the fact that there are biological limits to
female bodies compared to those of males who have a competitive advantage when it comes to sports. In
our literature, we will focus on the effects of transwomen participation in cis-women sports by examining
biological evidence pertaining to competitive advantages transwomen may possess, ethical
considerations, , and some policies aiming at resolving the issue.
Scope/limitations
Our research paper targets people from different cultural backgrounds who are interested in sports,
women’s rights, and social issues. It is important to note that we do not aim at delving into certain
generalized arguments for the sake of the specificity of our topic and the sensitivity of gender-based
issues. This paper does not discuss the limitations faced by the whole LGBTQ+ and it does not evaluate
the right/wrong aspects of this community. Rather, it focuses on transgender women’s participation in
sports only and from a totally objective perspective to weigh the effects of this controversial inclusion on
fairness in ciswomen’s competitions.
References:
Harper, J. (2022). Transgender Athletes and International Sports Policy. Law &
Contemporary Problems, 85(1), 151–165.
Knox, T., Anderson, L. C., & Heather, A. (2019). Transwomen in elite sport: scientific and
ethical considerations. Journal of Medical Ethics, 45(6), 395.
[Link]
Parker, H., Hands, B., & Rose, E. L. (2021). Australian Transgender Guidelines for Sport,
Part 1: Biological Perspectives, Fairness, and Physical Safety in Women’s Sport. The
International Journal on the Image, 13(1), 23–38. [Link]
7857/cgp/v13i01/23-38
Reynolds, A., & Jahromi, A. H. (2021). Transgender Athletes in Sports Competitions: How
Policy Measures Can Be More Inclusive and Fairer to All. Frontiers in Sports and
Active Living, 3. [Link]