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The declaration
Whereas World Rowing is responsible for safeguarding the integrity of the sport of rowing worldwide; and
World Rowing is committed to fair sport for all elite rowers; and
World Rowing runs a comprehensive anti-doping program to achieve integrity and fairness in competition; and
Physical bodies, not gender identities, compete in sports; and
The terms men and women refer to biological males and biological females, respectively; and
Men have a scientifically established sports performance advantage over women; and
Testosterone suppression in men does not erase the male sports performance advantage; and
Women should have the same rights as men to fair competition in rowing; and
Women should have opportunity for awards and recognition in competition equal to that of men; and
World Rowing fails to protect fair sport and equal opportunity for women by permitting men who identify as women and suppress testosterone to compete as women1;
Therefore, we, the undersigned, call on President Jean-Christophe Rolland and the World Rowing Council to:
- Immediately uphold the values of integrity and fairness in competition by defining two categories for competition in all regattas sanctioned by World Rowing:
- A Women’s Category exclusively for women*
- A Men’s Category exclusively for men*
- * Gender diverse athletes compete on the basis of their biological sex.
- Encourage all member federations to align their country-specific policies with these categories as so defined.
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Who has signed
Signatures are published once our administrators have reviewed them. Please share the declaration with other federation members and with Olympic, Paralympic and World Championship athletes, coaches and umpires.
World Rowing federation members
Plus 9 who signed without being named publicly.
Olympic, Paralympic and World Championship rowers
Plus 14 who signed without being named publicly.
Olympic, Paralympic and World Championship coaches
Plus 2 who signed without being named publicly.
Olympic, Paralympic and World Championship umpires
Plus 1 who signed without being named publicly.
Answers to Common Questions Regarding Sports Performance Differences between Women and Men
1. What are the rowing performance differences between elite men and elite women?
Race times are dramatically faster for men than for women. In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, no woman would have won a men’s medal. Competing against men, Emma Twigg, the women’s singles champion, would have finished 4th in the D final of the men’s singles (22nd place overall). The Canadian Women’s Eight gold medal time was slower than any men’s eight and 34 seconds behind the New Zealand Men’s Eight winning time.
2. What is World Rowing’s responsibility for fair sport?
World Rowing must honor its commitment to its own Code of Ethics: “World Rowing is responsible for safeguarding the integrity of the sport of rowing worldwide.”2 There can be no integrity in a sport that allows men to compete in the women’s category.
3. Is World Rowing policy on males who identify as women governed by International Olympic Committee (IOC) policy?
The IOC has authorized each international federation (e.g., World Rowing) to set its own eligibility rules within the IOC framework of fairness, inclusion and nondiscrimination on the basis of gender identity and sex variations. A landmark publication by 26 international scientific experts found this framework inconsistent with existing scientific and medical evidence. These experts specifically state that this framework does not protect fairness for female athletes as the biological advantages of male development cannot be erased with suppression of testosterone.3
4. What is World Rowing’s current policy for eligibility to compete in the women’s category?
Women are eligible to compete in the women’s category. World Rowing Rules of Racing (bylaw, rule 131) allows men who identify as women to compete as women if they have suppressed testosterone for 24 months to a level of 2.5 nmol/l.4 The normal level of testosterone in women is 0.5-2.4 nmol/l.5 World Rowing Rules of Racing does not provide information on how testosterone levels will be verified over the 24-month time period.
5. What is World Rowing’s current policy for eligibility to compete in the men’s category?
Men are eligible to compete in the men’s category.
6. What about coxswains?
World Rowing policy permits coxswains of either sex to compete in the men’s and women’s categories.
7. What about men who identify as women, can they compete at World Rowing?
Yes, World Rowing currently allows men who identify as women and who suppressed testosterone for the preceding 24-months to a level of 2.5 nmol/l to compete in the women’s category. This testosterone level is higher than the normal testosterone level of a woman.
8. When do sports performance differences begin between girls and boys?
Sex differences between boys (males) and girls (females) begin in utero. Every cell in the human body has a sex and sex influences almost every type of human tissue.6 Even prior to puberty, boys have sports performance advantages over girls. For example, boys in the 8 and underage group run 4-6% faster than girls.7
9. What is the impact of puberty on sports performance?
During puberty, testosterone levels rise 20-30-fold in boys. By age 18, men have 15 times higher levels of testosterone than women. In sports where muscular power or endurance is required, the performance advantage for men compared to women is approximately 10-30%.8
10. What are normal testosterone levels for post-puberty men and women?
Normal testosterone levels for men are 10-35 nmol/l and for women are 0.5 to 2.4 nmol/l.5 Thus, the required level of testosterone suppression for men who identify as women of 2.5 nmol/l is still higher than the testosterone level in most women. There is no overlap of testosterone levels between men and women in the absence of a disease or medical disorder.9
11. What about athletes with disorders of sexual development?
There are two sexes: male and female. Slightly less than 2 in 10,000 humans are born with a disorder of sexual development (DSD).10,11 Individuals with DSD are still male or female. Some DSD impact sports performance. Determination of eligibility in international competition for these athletes is typically determined by a medical board of the governing body.
12. Can an athlete change their biological sex?
No. Athletes can identify with their preferred gender. However, a rower cannot change her or his (biological) sex. Hormone treatment does not change an athlete’s (biological) sex.
13. What happens to sports performance when testosterone is suppressed in men who identify as women?
While testosterone suppression in men does decrease the sports performance advantage of the male sex, it does not erase it. Current research shows that even after 36 months of testosterone suppression (and estrogen supplementation) in men who identify as women, the male over female advantage in strength, lean body mass and muscle area remains.12
14. What is the impact of exercise on physical performance in men who suppress testosterone?
For two decades, science has shown that resistance exercise can prevent the muscle loss which occurs in men being treated for prostate cancer with complete testosterone suppression.13 Based on this fact, elite men rowers who identify as women may have no or little loss of muscle mass with testosterone suppression due to the positive impact of resistance training.
15. Why does World Rowing need to create a racing category exclusively for women?
Allowing men who identify as women and suppress testosterone to compete against women makes a mockery of competition. It invalidates and destroys a fair, meaningful, and sustainable competitive category for women.
16. Why not create separate categories for athletes who identify as the opposite sex?
A category for women who identify as men is not needed at the elite level. Women who identify as men and take testosterone would be banned for taking performance enhancing drugs. Women who identify as men and do not take testosterone would not be competitive to be selected to an elite men’s team. If a category were created for men who identify as women, this would result in two categories for men and one for women. Women (females) deserve equal opportunity for competition, namely the same number and types of races as men.
17. Why not create a separate category for rowers who identify as non-binary or gender fluid?
Creating racing categories based on gender identity disregards the fact that sex is the dominant factor influencing sports performance. To have fairness in competition, athletes who identify as non-binary should compete based on their sex.
18. Why should World Rowing not base eligibility categories for competition on gender identity?
Adults are free to identify with their preferred gender. Some people who identify as the opposite sex believe that they should have the right to compete in sports based on their chosen gender identity. However, human bodies and their corresponding biological sex, not gender identities, compete in sports. Recognizing the reality and science of sports performance differences between men and women is essential to protecting integrity in competition for women.
19. How can World Rowing support athletes who identify as the opposite sex while protecting fair sports for women?
World Rowing can protect fair sports for women and support athletes who identify as the opposite sex by defining two categories for competition as follows:
- The women’s category is exclusive to women (biological females). Women who identify as men and do not take testosterone supplementation compete as women. Women who identify as men and take testosterone supplementation are doping and banned from competition.
- The men’s category is exclusive to men (biological males). Men who identify as women, including those who suppress testosterone, compete as men.
World Rowing can encourage all member federations to align their country-specific policies with the above actions and definitions of women as biological females and men as biological males. The right of an individual to identify as a different gender is respected but does not give that individual the power to have the rights of others, specifically women, blatantly discarded.
20. What other world and national sports federations have policies which protect fairness for women?
- British Rowing protects fair sport for girls and women at all levels of rowing in Britain with 3 categories for competition: women (female only), open, and mixed (at least 50% female).14
- Other World Sports Federations have taken steps to improve fairness for female athletes by banning males from competing as women if they have experienced male puberty and by requiring such males to maintain a testosterone level of 2.5 nmol/. These policies still have significant gaps as they disregard the male sports performance differences present pre-puberty and ability of men to mitigate the impact of testosterone suppression through exercise.
- World Athletics: Men who identify as women can compete in the women’s category if they have not experienced any part of male puberty and since puberty must have continuously suppressed testosterone to a level below 2.5 nmol/l.15
- World Aquatics: Males who identify as women can compete in the women’s category if they have not experienced any part of male puberty and since puberty must have continuously suppressed testosterone to a level below 2.5 nmol/l.16
- International Cycling Union: Males who identify as women can compete in the female category if they have not experienced any part of male puberty and since puberty must have continuously suppressed testosterone to a level below 2.5 nmol/l.17
For questions or additional information, please contact Mary I. O’Connor, MD at maryoconnor@iconswomen.com.
References
- https://d2cx26qpfwuhvu.cloudfront.net/worldrowing/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/25145439/FISA-rule-book-EN-2024-update-final-1.pdf
- https://worldrowing.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-World-Rowing-Code-of-Ethics.pdf
- Lundberg TR, Tucker R, McGawley K, Williams AG, Millet GP, Sandbakk Ø, Howatson G, Brown GA, Carlson LA, Chantler S, Chen MA, Heffernan SM, Heron N, Kirk C, Murphy MH, Pollock N, Pringle J, Richardson A, Santos-Concejero J, Stebbings GK, Christiansen AV, Phillips SM, Devine C, Jones C, Pike J, Hilton EN. The International Olympic Committee framework on fairness, inclusion and nondiscrimination on the basis of gender identity and sex variations does not protect fairness for female athletes. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2024 Mar;34(3):e14581. doi: 10.1111/sms.14581. PMID: 38511417.
- https://worldrowing.com/2023/03/15/world-rowing-adopts-tighter-rules-for-transgender-women-athletes/
- https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/tests/testosterone#:~:text=Female%3A%2015%20to%2070%20ng,0.5%20to%202.4%20nmol%2FL
- Oliva M, Muñoz-Aguirre M, Kim-Hellmuth S, Wucher V, et al. The impact of sex on gene expression across human tissues. Science. 2020 Sep 11;369(6509):eaba3066. doi: 10.1126/science. aba3066. PMID: 32913072; PMCID: PMC8136152.
- Brown, G.A., Shaw, B.S. and Shaw, I. (2024), Sex-based differences in track running distances of 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1500m in the 8 and under and 9–10-year-old age groups. Eur J Sport Sci, 24: 217-225. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsc.12075
- https://www.acsm.org/news-detail/2023/09/29/acsm-releases-expert-consensus-statement-the-biological-basis-of-sex-differences-in-athletic-performance
- Clark RV, Wald JA, Swerdloff RS, et al. Large divergence in testosterone concentrations between men and women: Frame of reference for elite athletes in sex-specific competition in sports, a narrative review. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2019; 90: 15–22. https://doi.org/10.1111/cen.13840 and (2019), Erratum. Clin Endocrinol, 91: 471-473. https://doi.org/10.1111/cen.14068
- Sax L. How common is intersex? a response to Anne Fausto-Sterling. J Sex Res. 2002 Aug;39(3):174-8. doi: 10.1080/00224490209552139. PMID: 12476264.
- Hughes IA. Disorders of sex development: a new definition and classification. Best Pract Res Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008 Feb;22(1):119-34. doi: 10.1016/j.beem.2007.11.001. PMID: 18279784.
- Harper J, O’Donnell E, Sorouri Khorashad B, et al. How does hormone transition in transgender women change body composition, muscle strength and haemoglobin? Systematic review with a focus on the implications for sport participation. British Journal of Sports Medicine 2021;55:865-872.
- Newton, R.U., Galvão, D.A., Spry, N. et al. Timing of exercise for muscle strength and physical function in men initiating ADT for prostate cancer. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis23, 457–464 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41391-019-0200-z
- https://www.britishrowing.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/British-Rowing-Transgender-and-Non-Binary-Competition-Eligibility-Policy.pdf
- https://worldathletics.org/about-iaaf/documents/book-of-rules
- https://resources.fina.org/fina/document/2023/03/27/dbc3381c-91e9-4ea4-a743-84c8b06debef/Policy-on-Eligibility-for-the-Men-s-and-Women-s-Competiition-Categrories-Version-on-2023.03.24.pdf
- https://www.uci.org/transgender-athletes/4c14yVCbPNB8bpZJaMpQCI
- https://www.world.rugby/the-game/player-welfare/guidelines/transgender/women
What signers say