GENEVA - The United States Supreme Court's decision affirming that Title IX permits schools to maintain female sports categories on the basis of biological sex represents an important recognition of the rights of women and girls to equality, fairness and safety in sport, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, Reem Alsalem, said today.
"Title IX transformed the lives of generations of women and girls by opening the doors to educational and athletic opportunities that had long been denied to them," Alsalem said. "The preservation of a female sporting category is indispensable if those gains are to be protected."
On 30 June 2026, the US Supreme Court held that Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment permit schools to maintain girls' and women's sports categories for biological females and to determine eligibility based on biological sex. The Court concluded that neither Title IX nor the Constitution requires schools to dismantle sex-based sporting categories that were created to ensure equal opportunities for women and girls.
The Court recognised that the female category exists because of the well-established physical differences between the sexes that are relevant to athletic performance and that separate sporting categories are necessary to ensure fairness, safety and equal opportunities for women and girls.
Alsalem welcomed the Court's reaffirmation that sex, as used in Title IX, refers to biological sex. "This interpretation is consistent with the purpose for which the law was enacted in 1972, that is to remedy historical discrimination against women and girls in education and sport," she said.
The Special Rapporteur has repeatedly raised concerns regarding the erosion of female sporting categories and their implications for the rights of women and girls. In her report to the UN General Assembly on violence against women and girls in sports, she warned that requiring female athletes to compete against males in female sporting categories may undermine fairness, safety, dignity and equal opportunities for women and girls.
The expert also participated in proceedings before the Supreme Court through an amicus curiae submission supporting an interpretation of Title IX consistent with its original purpose of securing equal opportunities for female athletes and preserving the integrity of women's sport.
"The experiences of women and girls who have lost places on teams, podium positions, scholarships and opportunities deserve to be heard and taken seriously," Alsalem said. "Numerous female athletes, coaches and parents who participated in the proceedings described the psychological, material and long-term harms experienced by women and girls when compelled to compete against males in female sporting categories."
She also welcomed the clarity provided by the concurring opinion of Justice Clarence Thomas who asserted the material reality of females.
"Justice Thomas rightly recognised that legal rights depend upon legal and factual clarity," the Special Rapporteur said. "Women and girls can only enjoy the protections afforded to them under international human rights law and domestic law if the categories of woman and girl retain their ordinary and objective meaning."
She expressed concern, however, that public discussion of the judgment had frequently misrepresented both its scope and its findings.
"It is regretful that sections of the media and some commentators have once again misrepresented the ruling and what it actually says," the expert said. "This judgment is not about denying the dignity or humanity of any individual, nor does it justify hostility or discrimination against persons who identify as transgender. Rather, it addresses the narrow but fundamental legal question of whether laws enacted to guarantee equal opportunities for women and girls may continue to fulfil that purpose."
She stressed that the Court itself expressly recognised that all young people involved in these disputes deserve respect and that no student-athlete, whether female or transgender-identifying, should be ostracised or vilified.
"Protecting women's and girls' sport is not discriminatory," Alsalem said. "It is a necessary measure to guarantee substantive equality and to preserve one of the most significant achievements for women's rights of the last half century."
The Special Rapporteur called on States, educational institutions and sporting bodies to ensure that laws and policies governing sport remain firmly grounded in the rights of women and girls to equality, fairness, safety and dignity and that the Supreme Court decision is applied everywhere in the US.
