ABSTRACT
The world of women’s sport as we know it is seemingly contingent upon the strict separation of women from men on the sporting field, from the grassroots to the elite level. While pervasive sex segregation of sport has undoubtedly opened many doors for women athletes, feminist scholars have shown that it has also left others closed, by reinforcing an ideology of binary female/male difference that ultimately limits the pursuit of gender equality in sport. Moreover, various women find themselves at risk of exclusion and even psychological and physical harm due to the practices of eligibility regulation that are seemingly needed to enforce sex segregation, calling into question the notion that such practices ‘protect’ women. Yet if feminist scholars and advocates of women’s sport accept that at least in some circumstances – e.g. at the elite level of many sports – women do indeed need a category of their own, can this be compatible with an inclusive vision that recognises and celebrates women in all of their diversity? In this chapter, I share my own reflections as a former athlete and policy-engaged sociologist who is committed to advancing gender equality in sport in a way that leaves no woman behind.
