British Rowing Bans Transgender Women From Female Competitions

The Cambridge University Women's Boat Club Blue crew (R) celebrate race victory over Oxford University Women's Boat Club Blue crew during The Cancer Research UK Womens Boat Race 2018 in London on March 24, 2018. Naomi Baker/Getty Images

Male transgender rowers will no longer be allowed to compete in the women’s category from next month, the British governing body for the sport of rowing said.

British Rowing said the policy was updated to “guarantee fair and meaningful competition.”

Under the new rules, which will come into effect on September 11, only female rowers will be allowed to compete in the women’s category.

Women who identify as transgender men or non-binary can only compete in the women’s category if they are not using masculinising hormone treatment.

Men’s category will be replaced with an “open” category, in which anyone can participate.

In mixed events, in which half of the crew are men and half are women, the women will have to be biologically female who are not taking hormone treatment.

‘For the Foreseeable Future’

The policy will apply at all levels of British Rowing competition “for the foreseeable future,” but doesn’t apply to recreational or non-competitive events.

British Rowing said rowing is a “gender-affected sport” and the advantages male rowers have, “in terms of both performance outcomes and physiology/biology,” can be “easily and reliably” observed when both sexes train alongside each other.

The governing body said the new policy is “the fairest position for competition” after reviewing the latest scientific evidence, consulting with members, and considering World Rowing’s updated rules, which are slightly looser for transgender men.

In its policy update in March, World Rowing banned male transgender rowers from the women’s category, but female transgender athletes can compete in the women’s category as long as they have not begun transitioning before puberty and their serum testosterone concentration has been less than 2.5 nmol/L continuously for a period of at least the previous 24 months.

British Rowing said: “We have looked at what other sports are doing and have engaged with World Rowing. However, the British Rowing Board decided to establish a policy that is right for rowing in Great Britain specifically. To this end, we took real cognisance of the outcomes from our consultation and of just how important gender equity is in rowing.”

University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas reacts after her team wins the 400-yard freestyle relay during the 2022 Ivy League Women's Swimming and Diving Championships at Blodgett Pool in Cambridge, Mass., on Feb. 19, 2022. Kathryn Riley/Getty Images

The debate surrounding transgender athletes intensified last year when University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, previously known as William Thomas, became the first transgender National Collegiate Athletic Association champion in Division I history after winning the women’s 500-yard freestyle.

In an interview with The New York Times last year, Dr. Ross Tucker, a sports physiologist, questioned the idea that hormone therapy could negate the unfair physical edge, saying that Thomas is “the manifestation of the scientific evidence” that “the reduction in testosterone did not remove her biological advantage.”

Restrictions Introduced

A growing number of sports governmental bodies have updated their guidance to either ban transgender athletes in women’s sports or introduce restrictions.

In June last year, the International Swimming Federation said it would only allow biological male swimmers to compete in women’s events if they “have not experienced any part of male puberty beyond Tanner Stage 2 or before age 12, whichever is later,” and “have since continuously maintained their testosterone levels in serum (or plasma) below 2.5 nmol/L.”

In July last year, British Triathlon become the first sport in the UK to introduce an “open” category for “transgender and those non-binary who were male sex at birth.”

In March this year, UK Athletics excluded transgender women from elite female competitions after the UK’s equality watchdog told it that it was “likely to be lawful” to do so.

Swim England replaced its male category with an open category in April to prioritise “fair competition” while creating “an inclusive competitive environment.”