sport news Gender recognition reform could be 'devastating' for women's sport, says former ... trends now
Marathon runner Mara Yamauchi competed for Team GB in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics
An Olympic athlete has warned that gender recognition reform could have a 'devastating' impact on women's sport in Scotland and prompt female competitors to quit 'in their droves.'
Marathon runner Mara Yamauchi, who competed for Team GB in the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games, fears that the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill — which aims to make it quicker and easier for individuals to change sex with no requirement for medical reports or evidence — will render it impossible to maintain single-sex sports categories.
On Tuesday, Holyrood's human rights and civil justice committee heard two senior male executives of sports organisations funded or part-funded by the Scottish Government argue that the bill would not significantly impact on sport.
Yamauchi said she would be willing to testify to the committee that the bill would make women's sport unfair, unsafe and unattractive to competitors.
'These changes will make it impossible for sports authorities to enforce single sex sports,' she told Sportsmail.
'If this bill passes, people will be entitled to change their legal sex by self-declaration. A biological male might turn up at a sports club demanding to participate in female sport and, if challenged, could show a birth certificate that says female on it so that it becomes impossible for sports bodies — bearing in mind that many of the people involved are volunteers — to enforce sports categories by birth sex.
'And because it will become easier for people to change their sex legally, I think it's reasonable to imagine that the numbers of males demanding inclusion participating in the female category will increase.
'If they accept that a Scottish GRC (gender recognition certificate) is valid in the rest of the UK, then the situation I have described could unfold across the UK. We could have many more males identifying as women and expecting to participate in the female category of sport.
'More and more sports bodies will face the challenge of trying to enforce single-sex sport. That will be impossible.'
Sixth in the 2008 Beijing Olympic marathon,
