May 27, 2023 – The women’s rights advocate group, “Women Are Real” posted a statement and arrived at the State Track Meet held in Clovis over the weekend.
Their reasoning behind this arrival was to “denounce male participation in female sports.”
The group released the following statement about the events of the day:
“Today at 5:00 PM at Veterans Memorial Stadium, women’s rights advocates, Women Are Real, and Kara Dansky of Women’s Declaration International USA (WDI USA) will be unfurling banners that read ‘Protect Female Sports,’ ‘Protect Female Athletes,’ and ‘Speak Up 4 Girls’ in protest of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) allowing male participating in girls’ sports leading up to the 2023 CIF Track & Field Championship.
Male athletes have a clear physical advantage against female athletes in sports.
By allowing male students to participate alongside female students, the California Interscholastic Federation has encouraged boys to act against their conscience by taking part in robbing girls of their athletic achievement.
It is unfair for the CIF to place the burden of guilt upon one set of students while enforcing compliance with the other to the detriment of their athletic goals and achievements.
Female athletes and their families are not allowed to voice their concerns about male participation in female sports because this is considered ‘bullying behavior,’ and speaking on their own behalf would result in disciplinary action that would hinder their ability to compete at all.
Male athletes are told they are not doing anything wrong when they may feel otherwise.
It is on behalf of these hard working athletes and their families that Women Are Real will make their voices heard, but especially so for the female athletes whose voices have been silenced by these rules.
‘Article 7 of the Declaration on Women’s Sex-Based rights reaffirms that sports should remain single sex, in accordance with international human rights law,’ said Kara Dansky, the president of Women’s Declaration International USA.
‘By permitting male athletes to compete in the female category, the California Interscholastic Federation is out of step with world-wide trends.
British Cycling recently announced that it would not permit male athletes to compete against female athletes and CIF should do the same.’
‘The State of California and the CIF must stop the blatant discrimination against female athletes in sports,’ said Kim Jones, Co-founder of ICONS – Independent Council on Women’s Sports.
‘Women and girls deserve fair competition at every age and every level.
We all know it is wrong to allow male athletes to compete against girls.
We all know how to fix this.
The question is simply how many girls must suffer loss and humiliation before adults and federations will stand up and do the right thing.’
Women and girls deserve fairness, safety, and opportunity.
Women and girls should not have to ask for fair & equal treatment again.
Keep women’s and girls’ sports safe and female.”