Gender Categories in Sports: Determination or Discrimination?
377 views · Published 1 December 2014 · 10:00 · Indexed 28 October 2026
Channel: NewsClickin · 2014 · News & Politics
Newsclick interviewed Dr. Satyajit Rath from the National Institute of Immunology on the issue of gender determination in sports in the context of the recent case of Indian sprinter Dyuti Chand. On the question of whether it is only the XY chromosome combination that leads to the birth of a male child, Rath believes that while in general it is true exceptions do exist. There are combinations like XXX chromosomes, making purely chromosomal gender determination difficult. Sports authorities treat parameters like body structure and level of testosterone as factors in determining gender which is often arbitrary. Situations may exist where the individuals find themselves in grey areas in terms of these parameters, as has happened in the case of Dyuti Chand. Rath points out that these arbitrary categorisations have more to do with socio political factors than biological ones. They are linked with concrete questions of patriarchy, gender discrimination and injustice. The glaring differences in prize money and pay between male and female sportspersons is a case in point.
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