UN hosts panel to combat violence against women and girls in sport

Female athletes and global human rights leaders called on the United Nations to protect the safety and fairness for women in sport at a General Assembly event on Wednesday.

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International convened an event with leaders at the UN Headquarters in New York City to advocate for the human rights of female athletes in the United States and around the world.

Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies, U.S. collegiate athlete Lainey Armistead, ADF International CEO Kristen Wagoner, and UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls Reem Alsalem addressed government and UN officials and urged them to do so to keep women’s sport fair and feminine. only.

Alsalem presented a report to the UN General Assembly last week calling for the global protection of women and girls in sport, which she addressed in her comments on the panel.

Alsalem argued that women and girls are increasingly affected by the removal of single-sex spaces in sports, increasing the risk of sexual harassment, assault, voyeurism, and physical and sexual assault in unisex locker rooms and restrooms.

“As patriarchal structures continue to evolve, women and girls in sport are experiencing new forms of gender discrimination,” she said. “A glaring example is the opening of the female sports category to men, further undermining their access to equal opportunities and the right to participate in safety, dignity and fairness.”

“In fact, I have no hesitation in saying that the failure to protect the female category is one of the most egregious forms of violence against women and girls, as the essence of ‘feminineness’ is willfully pushed aside and ignored, resulting in suffering. Pain, humiliation, frustration and anger at the loss of dignity and the sheer injustice faced,” she added.

The Biden administration has expanded the definition of sex discrimination and harassment under Title IX to include gender identity and sexual orientation, which athletes, experts and activists say will have a significant impact on women-only spaces.

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 was originally a 37-word provision prohibiting schools receiving federal funding from discriminating against students on the basis of sex to ensure equal opportunities for women in education.

Alsalem publicly warned the Biden administration in December 2023 that changing the definition of what it means to be a woman under Title IX would result in a “loss of privacy, increased risk of physical harm, increased exposure to sexual harassment, and “Voyeurism” would result in more frequent and cumulative psychological distress due to the loss of privacy and fair and equal sporting and academic opportunities.”

ADF is challenging the Biden-Harris administration’s attempt to rewrite Title IX protections for women and girls, and while the Department of Education has said its controversial update to Title IX will have no impact on sports and it Will not allow transgender women to compete against biological women, experts argue The current regulation already does this.

Armistead is a former college athlete from West Virginia who, along with other athletes, is fighting a legal battle with the help of the ADF to prevent biological males from competing in female sports categories. She shared her experiences with the UN body, describing the situations she faced as “demoralizing and unfair and just plain wrong.” She also discussed the conflict between the Title IX changes and state law.

“There is a law in West Virginia that ensures that only biological females can compete in women’s sports,” she testified. “But during my time at WVSU [West Virginia State University]“I began to hear stories of women failing – and even being injured – while competing against men in women’s sports.”

“In the last three years alone, the only male athlete allowed to compete against girls in West Virginia has already displaced nearly 300 girls,” she added, referring to a track and field athlete from the state. “And that’s just one athlete.”

Armistead is appealing her lawsuit defending protections for women in sports in West Virginia to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Davies, who competed as a swimmer in three different Olympics, also shared her experiences with unfair competition. At the 1980s Olympics, she lost gold to an East German competitor who had been given testosterone to improve performance as a teenager.

“Women are physically disadvantaged. “It doesn’t mean we’re worse or better, just that we’re biologically different,” she said. “I don’t know a single person who wants to exclude anyone. However, we want women to have a fair and safe sport.”

“And we cannot wait until a woman is seriously injured or, worse, killed, to deal with science, the obvious and common sense,” she added.

Wagoner spoke about the ADF’s legal efforts to protect women, as well as international law, which has long recognized equality and non-discrimination, including on the basis of gender, as a pillar of human rights.

“Unfortunately, many countries have failed to meet their human rights obligations towards women and girls in sport,” she said. “We learned the hard way that failing to protect women’s sports causes great harm to women and girls.”

“Our appeal to the world is to learn from the mistakes that were made – and that are now being corrected – so that your daughters can move into a future of fair and safe sport,” she added.

Elyssa Koren, panel moderator, international human rights lawyer and head of legal communications at ADF International, said the inability of women and girls to compete fairly in sport extends far beyond their personal lives.

“Ensuring that female athletes can access and enjoy the benefits of sport without violence and discrimination empowers women and girls and benefits everyone,” she said. “Female athletes today are increasingly experiencing incursions into their all-female spaces, with devastating consequences not only for their opportunities, but also for their basic security.”