WOMEN IN COMPETITVE SPORTS: BALANCING THE RIGHTS OF THE BIOLOGICAL AND TRANSGENDER WOMAN

Abstract

Women, like their male counterparts, enjoy basic fundamental rights. The course of human interactions has led, in some instances, to the need to introduce and enforce additional protection for women and persons that would otherwise be disadvantaged if such additional protections were not given. Sports have been part of human activities undertaken as recreation or a career. Although the competitive sport was, at some point in human history, an exclusive male preserve, the umbrella of exclusivity has long been torn, and women have been welcomed, embraced and encouraged to participate in their own rights, and compete against their fellow women in separate and distinct categories from that of the male. The categorisation was done taking into cognisance the biological makeup of the male and female beings in the bid to ensure fairness to all participants. A transgender woman has the right to participate and compete in sporting activities. This article examined the fairness or otherwise of allowing the transgender woman to compete in the same category as the biological woman in sporting activities. Apart from interrogating and exploring the topic, we have made recommendations that would hopefully help resolve the many controversies generated by allowing the transgender woman to compete in the same category as the biological woman. The approach of research used is the doctrinal method.