SWSA Welcomes IOC's Upcoming Ban on Male Advantage in Female Olympic Events and Demands Immediate Action in New Zealand & Australia

Ro Edge
2 days ago
3 min read

Save Women's Sport Australasia (SWSA) applauds the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) impending announcement of a full ban on male advantage in female Olympic events, expected early in the new year. This landmark decision, informed by a rigorous scientific review, unequivocally confirms that physical advantages from being born male persist even after testosterone suppression, rendering fair competition in the female category impossible.

"The IOC's long-overdue reversal is a victory for science and fairness that has been hard-fought by women around the world," said Ro Edge, New Zealand Spokeswoman for Save Women's Sport Australasia. "For too long, female athletes have been forced to compete against males under the guise of inclusion. This ends now at the Olympic level – and it must end in New Zealand and Australia too."

The IOC's shift marks a decisive end to a flawed era that began at the Olympic level. Its previous guidance – heavily influenced by a single controversial study authored by a trans-identifying male – opened the door to male advantage in women's sport. This policy trickled down to every level worldwide, including community and school events in New Zealand and Australia. Females have paid the price: lost opportunities, compromised safety, shattered records and dreams, and eroded pathways.

"Now, the reversal must start at the top and cascade down once again. The Olympics led the charge into this injustice; it must now lead the way out," SWSA Australian Spokeswomen Nerissa Pace declared.

SWSA calls on all New Zealand and Australian stakeholders to act immediately and follow the IOC's evidence-based lead:

The New Zealand Government must honour its coalition agreement with NZ First without delay. Fully enact commitments by directing all publicly funded sporting bodies to protect the female category. This must explicitly extend to the education system, banning male inclusion in female school sports at primary and secondary levels to safeguard young girls' rights to fair play, privacy, and safety from the earliest ages.
The Australian Government must urgently develop and enact national policies to protect the female category in sport. With no current plans in place, we demand immediate action to direct all publicly funded sporting bodies – including the education system – to ensure fair competition free from male inclusion. Explicitly ban males from girls' school sports at primary and secondary levels to safeguard fair play, privacy, and safety from the earliest ages.
Sport NZ and Sport Australia and the Australian Institute of Sport to step up as guardians of sporting integrity. Prioritise fairness, safety, opportunities, and pathways for female athletes with immediate policy updates excluding males from female categories in all funded programmes and high-performance pathways.
All New Zealand and Australian sporting bodies – from grassroots clubs to national federations – to prove they value female participants. You followed the IOC's flawed guidance before; now follow its corrected direction. End male inclusion in female competition without exception – prioritise science over ideology.

"The science is clear and has been for years: no amount of testosterone suppression – or the delusional pretence that self-identification alone could magically erase them – can undo the permanent physical advantages of being born male," Ms Edge said. "We've seen the heartbreaking damage done to girls and women at all levels of community sport, from intermediate school level upwards. Enough is enough. The New Zealand and Australian Governments, Sport NZ, Sport Australia, and every sporting body must act today to protect female sport at every level."

The IOC's review, presented by Dr Jane Thornton, lays this out "scientifically, factually, and unemotionally." New Zealand and Australia cannot lag behind. Female athletes deserve protection from school fields to Olympic podiums.

Save Women's Sport Australasia stands ready to support implementations. The time for excuses is over. Protect women's sport now.

SWSA Welcomes IOC's Upcoming Ban on Male Advantage in Female Olympic Events and Demands Immediate Action in New Zealand & Australia