Sex Discrimination in Sport

The controversy embroiling the women’s Olympic boxing competition this year has thrown the concept of sex discrimination in sport into the spotlight once again. When distinctions based on sex are contested in the realm of sport it is usually for one of two reasons: either there is an issue relating to the inclusion of trans women into the female category or there is an issue relating to people born with differences in sex development and how sporting federations should regulate their participation.

In this post, I want to provide an overview of how British law deals with sex discrimination in sport and how it defines who falls within the female category. The following analysis is not a commentary on the lawfulness of the International Olympic Committee policies themselves, but it may provide some context for how we might better think about them, given the considerations that are relevant for British law: safety and fairness. This discussion may also be relevant for those thinking about how sex differentiation in sport operates under British law.