Independent Women’s Voice Supports Kansas Senate Bill 208—The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act Requiring That Female Student Athletic Teams Only Include Members Who Are Biologically Female
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Independent Women’s Voice (IWV) supports the introduction of Senate Bill 208 in the Kansas assembly to save girls’ and women’s sports and, further, urges state legislators to vote yes when the bill comes to the chamber floor. If passed, SB 208 would require that, when it comes to athletic teams or sports sponsored by public or postsecondary educational institutions in the state, female student athletic teams only include members who are biologically female as determined by “reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or normal endogenously produced testosterone levels.”
State-level efforts to protect women’s sports are urgently needed. Recent executive action at the federal level by President Joe Biden requiring federally funded athletic programs to let athletes who were born male compete with and against women jeopardizes the future of female sports and may even place girls and women in physical danger.
“In the realm of athletics, biological sex differences matter,” said Hadley Heath Manning, IWV director of policy. “Without separate teams for women and men, men will dominate women in competitive sports where strength, size, or speed are relevant factors.”
IWV recently sent a letter urging all Kansas state senators to protect female sports by voting yes in support of Senate Bill 208 when it comes to the floor.
IWV’s sister organization, Independent Women’s Forum (IWF), has been speaking with women and girls across the country, collecting their stories about what being, raising, or watching female athletes means to them. They have also shared their concerns about Biden’s executive order and its implications for women’s sports.
Read more about Title IX and women’s sports from IWF HERE.
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Independent Women’s Voice fights for women by expanding support for policy solutions that aren’t just well intended, but actually enhance freedom, opportunities, and well-being.