https://doi.org/10.4081/mem.2024.1594
Inclusion vs equity? Eligibility requirements and the meaning of sport
This study explores the complex ethical issues surrounding the determination of eligibility criteria for participation in women's sports competitions, with particular emphasis on intersex and transgender athletes. The significance of this topic is underscored by recent high-profile cases in sports, which have highlighted the challenges of balancing fundamental values such as inclusion, fairness, safety, privacy, individual freedom, and social cohesion. These cases reveal ethical dilemmas where uncompromising solutions are not possible. The essay first examines the evolution of international regulations governing the participation of female athletes, focusing on the role of testosterone as a key indicator for ensuring fairness. It then provides an overview of alternative proposals that have emerged in philosophical and moral debates, questioning the adequacy of testosterone as the sole criterion for assessment. The essay concludes with personal reflections by the author, offering a contribution to the ongoing debate. While this paper does not aim to offer definitive solutions, it seeks to provide a well-reasoned analysis of the ethical challenges involved, contributing to a more nuanced and informed discussion.
How to Cite
PAGEPress has chosen to apply the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) to all manuscripts to be published.
An Open Access Publication is one that meets the following two conditions:
- the author(s) and copyright holder(s) grant(s) to all users a free, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual right of access to, and a license to copy, use, distribute, transmit and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works, in any digital medium for any responsible purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship, as well as the right to make small numbers of printed copies for their personal use.
- a complete version of the work and all supplemental materials, including a copy of the permission as stated above, in a suitable standard electronic format is deposited immediately upon initial publication in at least one online repository that is supported by an academic institution, scholarly society, government agency, or other well-established organization that seeks to enable open access, unrestricted distribution, interoperability, and long-term archiving.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.