In 2021, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed Laurel Hubbard to compete in the 2020 Summer Olympics in weightlifting, marking the first time an openly transgender woman was permitted to compete in the Olympics. Although Hubbard did not win any medals, the fact that a transgender woman competed against cisgender women within the same rules created a great deal of controversy. While some saw this as the beginning of true equality in both sports and gender, others asserted that the physiques of transgender women give them far greater advantages over cisgender women, making the games unfair.

According to Verywell Health, a transgender woman pertains to “a person who was assigned male at birth but who exists as a woman,” while a cisgender woman is “a person who was assigned female at birth and exists as a woman.” On March 3, the governor of Iowa signed a bill that prohibits transgender females from participating in girls’ high school sports and women’s college athletics. A total of 28 states in the United States (U.S.), including Iowa, have similar bills, which raises the question: where does true equality stand?

People who agree with the bills reason that true equality comes from equal physical conditions, claiming that transgender women have an advantageous physique and will, therefore, dominate women’s sports, preventing “real” women from competing fairly. Yet, what people seem to forget is that all athletes have different physical features, transgender or not.

For instance, Michael Phelps, a 28-time Olympic medalist in swimming, was scientifically proven to have twice the lung capacity of the average human, half the lactic acid of his competitors, and double-jointed ankles that bend 15 percent more than his rivals. When this was announced, nobody complained that his extreme physical advantage would make the games unfair, but rather praised him for it. However, when transgender women are competing, it is often assumed that they are at an unfair advantage, which is a rather transphobic point of view.

The truth is that transgender women are, in fact, women. Excluding transgender women is an act of inequality which ultimately hurts all women. Most of the aforementioned bills entail accusation-based testing, meaning any girl or woman can be accused of being transgender, forcing them to be tested. On the surface, this may seem like a way to play it safe, yet by doing so, these bills are allowing people to conform to the misogynistic standards of how a woman’s body “should be.” At what point is a woman considered too male or too female? This proves that including transgender women in sports is crucial to overall gender equality as well.

Nevertheless, accepting transgender people in general society is still a work in progress; hence, certain scientific regulations should be included. In its 2015 guidelines, the IOC recommended that transgender women keep their testosterone levels to under 10 nanomoles per liter for at least 12 months to compete. However, starting from November 2021, transgender women were no longer required to reduce their testosterone levels. This is an issue, because having rules concerning players’ hormonal levels is much needed in order to guarantee both equality and control in women’s sports.

Including transgender women can seem off-putting at first, but with a slightly more open mind, it is not entirely impossible. Although reasonable hormonal rules should be allowed, people need to keep in mind that all athletes have different physical conditions, and excluding transgender women derives from a patriarchal point of view. Equality and exclusivity – which one will the sports community choose?