Transgender and Intersex Athletes, Professional Sport and the Duty to Ensure Worker Health and Safety: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

The participation of transgender and intersex athletes is one of the most contested issues in professional sport today. Discrimination law is the lens through which the issue most commonly is debated, and gender diversity policies framed. Frequently missing from the debate (as it is from much discussion of sport generally) is the application of work health and safety (WHS) law. Yet, as this article establishes, WHS law applies to professional sport, and the duties it imposes on sport governing bodies and clubs requires them to proactively mitigate risks to physical and psychological health and safety associated with the participation of transgender and intersex athletes, and from their development and implementation of gender diversity policies. The article’s examination reveals that while viewing the participation of transgender and intersex athletes in professional sports through the prism of WHS law is challenging, it presents sport governing bodies, clubs and transgender, intersex and cisgender athletes with a valuable avenue for addressing this complex issue in a more constructive and balanced manner.

Keywords: [ransgender, intersex, sport, work health and safety, discrimination

JEL Classification: I18, J71, K31, K32, Z28, Z22