At a time in professional cycling when parity between the men and women is front and centre, the spotlight has shifted onto the debate concerning the inequalities within the women's category of sport.
There's a controversial notion – increasingly evident at the high-performance level – that not all women are considered equal, whereby governing bodies decide who, among the infinitely diverse category of women, is allowed to compete and who is not.
The sports world has been holding its breath, awaiting the announcement of two important decisions made by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
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On the surface, they both intend to protect competitive fairness for women. However, diving deeper into the debate reveals that they also affect diversity and the human rights of female athletes, and that includes the sport of pro cycling.
Transgender and hyperandrogenism
The IOC will soon introduce an updated version of its 'transgender and hyperandrogenism' guidelines, which govern XY females and biological women born with higher levels of testosterone. These two groups of women have been the subject of controversy in sport for over seven decades. The IOC is expected to be coming out with new rules for XY females, or so-called 'transgendered' athletes, who wish to compete in the women's category.
Also, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced its verdict in the Caster Semenya vs. International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) case on Wednesday. It was an appeal over the IAAF's new regulations that decide the eligibility and legality of biological women who have higher testosterone levels – due to one of seven 'differences of sex development' (DSD) – to compete with other women. The IOC and IAAF refer to these women with hyperandrogenism conditions as 'intersex' or 'DSD women'. The IAAF moved to restrict these women from competing in events from the 400 metres to the mile.
The rules
Human rights
Testosterone
The grim history of sex-testing
Square peg, round hole
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/policing-gender-boundaries-testosterone-sex-testing-and-human-rights
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