Being woman enough: A critical analysis of how sex testing continues to discriminate against women in athletics

This article posits that the sex determination inquiries enforced by the regulations of World Athletics are unduly discriminatory and a hurdle towards ensuring fair play. These eligibility criteria, while aimed at ensuring equality of competition by prohibiting athletes with higher than permitted levels of testosterone from competing in certain events, result in significant social and professional stigmatisation of individuals with Different Sexual Development (DSD). The much-publicised cases of Caster Semenya and Dutee Chand will be used as focal points to evaluate and analyse the Eligibility Policies of World Athletics critically. The article argues that the very nature of these policies—framed from a Eurocentric point of view and based on rigid one-dimensional scientific cut-off points—puts athletes at a disadvantage and forces upon them disproportionate sanctions, coercing them to compromise their bodily integrity. Despite claiming to promote fairness and equality, these policies disproportionately impact the athletes from the Global South, and this article illustrates such instances through the abovementioned cases.