Public Opinion
Whenever athletes or the general public are asked anonymously on their views about male inclusion in the female category, the overwhelming majority support a protected female category
The problem has been that most sport organisations have failed to consult their female membership in any meaningful way, refused to disclose their consultation process and / or refused to publish results of surveys.
Here is a summary of survey results:
Higher Education Policy Unit Survey of Undergraduates June 2026
55% of undergraduates opposed biological males who identify as women being allowed to use women’s changing rooms
IOC Survey - March 2026
The IOC reported that a clear majority of women athletes and former Olympians favoured restricting the female category to biological females.
Centre Square Voters Voice Poll March 2026
68% of registered voters support the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the ban on transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports
USA Pew Research Centre Nov 2025
73% of Americans were uncomfortable with transgender athletes competing on sports teams that do not match their sex at birth.
66% of adults favored a law or policy that would require trans athletes to compete on teams that match their sex at birth.
Youth Sport Trust Girls Active Survey Oct 2025
68% of school girls want girls only sport, up from 66% in 2024
England Table Tennis Survey July 2025
78% of Table Tennis England members who responded were positive about the draft policy to protect the female category on the basis of biological sex and would keep participating in the sport as usual
Sixty-nine percent of U.S. adults continue to believe that transgender athletes should only be allowed to play on sports teams that match their birth sex
Public Policy Institute of California - April 2025
65% of adults and 71% of public school parents support requiring transgender athletics to compete on teams to match the sex assigned at birth, not the gender they identify with.
IPSOS Pride Survey June 2025
Only 15% the UK public are in favour of trans athletes competing based on the gender they identify with rather than the sex they were assigned at birth in 2025, down from 19% in 2024 and 24% in 2021.
UK YouGov Poll Dec 2024
74% of the British public do not think transgender women should be allowed to take part in women's sporting events
79% of cricket volunteers said males should not be allowed to compete in the female category in either amateur or professional cricket events - SEEN in Sport survey of ECB cricket volunteers - Nov 2024
66% of girls want single sex sport, according to @YouthSportTrust research - Survey June 2024
Swansea / MMU University Research April 2024
The majority of female athletes (58%) support categorisation by biological sex, rather than gender identity say national, elite and world-class female athletes from a range of sports and countries
BBC Sport Elite British Sportswomen's Study March 2024
Over 70% of respondents (104 out of 115) stated they felt "uncomfortable" or "very uncomfortable" with transgender women competing in the female tier of their respective sports.
Australia Survey - Sept 2023
50,000 news.com.au readers took part in, an overwhelming majority (82.6 per cent) believed that trans women possess an unfair advantage over cisgender women in sports, and therefore shouldn’t be able to compete.
British Rowing survey of members. More than 80% of the 31,500 members voted for female at birth category - Rowing Survey - August 2023
Over 97% of 22,000 people that voted do not think that athletes that have gone trough any stage of male puberty should be allowed to compete in the male category - Athletics Weekly Poll - Jan 2023
87% of athletics volunteers who expressed a view said that males who have been through male puberty should not be allowed to compete in the female category (Sullivan and Armstrong Jan 2023) - Sullivan & Armstrong Survey - Jan 2023
World Disc Golf Survey Dec 2022
75% of disc golfers disagreed that transwomen should be able to compete with other women
Swim England Member Survey Aug 2022
More than 2,000 responses There was a clear consensus via the online survey that fair competition must be protected within aquatics (86%) and that a ‘Female’ and ‘Open’ category would be the best way to achieve this (74%).
Canadian Elite Athlete Survey - Cathy Devine Aug 2022
80% of Canadian elite female athletes disagree or strongly disagree with trans women (biological males) competing in female sport
British Triathlon found over 80 percent of 3,167 members favoured a dedicated female category July 2022
FINA (now World Aquatics) found 84 percent of those surveyed thought eligibility for women’s events should be based on birth sex - Survey - June 2022
Over 97% of the 60,000 members of the British public who voted, think biological males should not compete against biological females in sport - Sharron Davies Survey May 2022
More than 92% of professional female cyclists are against the inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s races’ (McDonald, 2022) - Cycling Survey April 2022
Following an extensive RFU consultation, the RFU Council has voted in favour of protecting the female category, updating its gender participation policy for rugby in England from the start of the 2022/23 season with 33 in favour, 26 against and 2 abstaining.
Survey - Oct 2020