Why should female athletes have to compete against newly transitioned biological males?

Imagine the irony if one of the mighty Matildas was benched for a biological male. It’s a hypothetical scenario but shows why female athletes need our help fighting on yet another front.

Which of these magnificent young Matildas women would we bench to make way for a biological male, all in the name of fairness?

A couple of months before Australia was gripped by a new strain of highly contagious fever called Matildas-itis, a teenage girl stood in front of her class and gave a speech. A speech notable in its courage because it contained irrefutable truths that many of our elected leaders haven’t had the ticker to acknowledge, let alone utter in public.

I’ve seen this speech, shared with me by her dad, who found out about it after the event. He tells me she’s not especially political but does enjoy sport and keeping fit. But she stood up in front of her classmates and, with brave conviction and exceptional clarity and logic, argued why female sport deserved protection. Deserved to be in a class of its own.

I’d like you to hold that thought for a moment while we play a quick game of hypotheticals. I watched the Matildas, like most of Australia. A lifelong Inter Milan fan (my family would have disowned me had I chosen any other team) I confess to being late to the Matildas party.

And what a party it has been. It brought out the best in us. United us as a country. Sparked a wave of camaraderie and celebration. It has been joyous. I patiently and gratefully obtained a crash course in Matildas 101 via my 19-year-old niece who knows all their names, who they play for internationally and a host of other random information only true fans can recount.

That semi-final against the Poms had us all on our feet. Sam Kerr’s magnificent strike. Their collective athleticism. Sportsmanship. Skill and, it must be noted, significantly less diving and other world-game related theatrics than the blokes dish. What’s not to love? This was a great moment in women’s sport in Australia. Women’s sport.

Which brings me to our game of hypothetical. The Matildas’ last game was played in Brisbane and the Queensland government wants to build a statue to the team. A statue for coming fourth, in my view, leaves nowhere to go for when they do win, as they surely will, but that’s an aside for now.

In Queensland anyone can identify as a woman. Anyone. At any time. With the stroke of a pen. I couldn’t help but notice the irony of a government that, on the one hand, says anyone can be a woman while in the same breath shouting Girl Power and proposing a monument to celebrate this incredible group of female athletes.

Here’s the hypothetical and it comes on the back of an unusually (for me) cynical observation. Watching the adulation of the mighty Matildas I wondered: what if a biological male sought to play for the team? Then what? Which of these magnificent young women would we bench to make way, all in the name of fairness – which is, of course, the argument mostly used in this space. Kerr? Hayley Raso? Mary Fowler?

Sorry if that makes you uncomfortable but that’s the point. The hypothetical I’ve just posed is the reality being faced not just by elite sportswomen around the globe but young women in junior sport, in suburbs around Australia every weekend. To be very clear, this isn’t about anything other than a view on the rights of women and women in sport.

I am no athlete, trust me. I played division 13E basketball in my teens. It was not good. I had a stab at water polo one year. Let’s call it three months of near drowning. So, in that sense I’ve zero investment other than being in total awe of female athletes in general and believing they deserve a level playing field, in every sense. How can we as a society have important conversations about financial parity for female athletes while running from the debate around women deserving to compete against other women? It shouldn’t even be a debate, in truth.

Champion trans former athlete Caitlyn Jenner has bravely and repeatedly spoken out in defence of female athletes and the importance of protecting women’s sport.

So, too, tennis legend Martina Navratilova. Their common sense and courage put many politicians and policymakers to shame. New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins along with senior public servants in our own Department of Health struggle to articulate what a woman is. Let me remind them: it’s an adult human female.

Caitlyn Jenner supports protecting women’s sport. Picture: /Getty Images)

So too, tennis legend Martina Navratilova. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

It seems the world is remembering, too, what a woman is. British Rowing recently has announced that biological males are not allowed to compete in women’s events. So, too, cycling. That sport’s governing body, UCI, backflipped on an earlier decision to allow transgender women to compete in the female category. It now says an athlete who transitioned after puberty cannot compete against women, citing further consultation and a review of scientific considerations.

It seems still that every day in ways large and small language continues to diminish and marginalise women. Birthing people. Parental caregiver. Who knew mother was a dirty word? Just this week, the ABC published a report citing “people with endometriosis”. Women get endometriosis because only women have a uterus. Women like my mum who, back in the day, were told it was all in their head, before the disease nearly claimed their lives.

This isn’t about identity. Trans people in our community deserve our love and respect, just like everyone else. Adults can identify as whatever and whomever they choose and should be able to live their lives in peace. We all should. This is about female athletes having to fight on yet another front, one that is absolutely and completely flawed.

This wonderful experience of having the Matildas play so brilliantly on home soil, showing us what women can do, should above all be a powerful reminder that women’s sport deserves more than just our lip service. It deserves our collective protection.

I’m going to leave the final words to my friend’s brilliant, brave daughter. As she rightly told her classmates, this issue is not about inclusion. It’s actually about fairness, safety and opportunity for female athletes.