British Rowing has announced that males will now be banned from female-only competitions.
The new policy includes an open category that is open to anyone, and then a female-only category reserved for those who were born female. Only biological women will be able to represent England or Great Britain at international events, per The Times. Biological males who identify and present as women will be treated as males for the purpose of fair competition.
The report also noted that in mixed events, at least half of the crews must have been born female.
Rowing has followed the policies of other athletic disciplines, including cycling, swimming, and triathlon in the UK. Much of these policies have come ahead of determinations by the athletic bodies' international federations.
Additionally, the International Olympic Committee’s guidelines continue to recommend that males should be able to compete in women’s events if they have had reduced testosterone levels for a full year.
“British Rowing is committed to promoting an environment in which rowing is accessible and inclusive and to ensuring that we provide opportunities and enjoyment for everyone,” British Rowing said.
“In order to achieve this in a fair manner, we need to establish conditions for competition that guarantee fair and meaningful competition by placing necessary and proportionate restrictions on eligibility.”
“We already do so in lightweight and adaptive rowing categories, and we are now doing so in the women’s category.”
Women’s rights activists have been pushing British Rowing to introduce policies that would protect fair play for biological females during competition. Some women also held a Women’s Henley Regatta in June.
While there’s no British transgender women rowers in elite competition at this time, there have been women’s records in masters events for over-50s and 60s broken by transgender women, per the report.
World Rowing, however, does allow men who have reduced testosterone levelts to compete against women. That policy refers to testosterone levels having to be below 2.5nmol/litre “in case of gender transition.” While men typically have 10 to 35 nmol/L, women’s levels stay between 0.5 and 2.4 nmol/L.
