The Growing Disadvantage: Women's Fight for Fairness in Sports

The debate over transgender athletes in women's sports has become a focal point for discussions on fairness, equality, and the integrity of competition. The controversy gained widespread attention with the case of Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer from the University of Pennsylvania, whose victories over biologically female competitors have sparked intense criticism and concern.

Female athletes from various universities, including Princeton, have expressed frustration, arguing that allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports undermines the hard-won gains of female athletes over the past fifty years. These women point to the significant biological differences between men and women, differences that persist even after a year of hormone suppression therapy, which is currently required for transgender women to compete in female categories!

Scientific studies support these concerns, showing that despite hormone therapy, transgender women retain physical advantages over biological women, such as larger muscle mass, greater lung capacity, and longer limbs. Quoting Dr. Michael J. Joyner, a doctor at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., “There are social aspects to sport, but physiology and biology underpin it”. “Testosterone is the 800-pound gorilla.” These advantages have allowed athletes like Thomas to rapidly rise in rankings, surpassing their performance levels prior to transitioning. For example, in the men’s category, Ms. Thomas had ranked 32nd in the 1,650-yard freestyle; she managed to climb up to rank eight and won races that season by huge margins of 38 seconds! She had ranked 554th in the men’s 200-yard freestyle; she tied for fifth place in this race in the women’s 2022 N.C.A.A championship. The icing on the cake – Ms. Thomas ranked 65th in the men’s 500-yard freestyle but won the title as a female.

The issue extends beyond swimming, with similar debates occurring in other sports like rugby, cycling, and weightlifting. Critics, including tennis legend Martina Navratilova, argue that allowing transgender women to compete against biological women is inherently unfair and poses safety risks in contact sports. Navratilova has been vocal in her stance, stating that biological realities cannot be ignored in the pursuit of inclusivity.

The debate is further complicated by political and social factors. Organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) argue that transgender women have the right to compete in women’s sports, framing opposition as transphobic. However, this has created a culture of fear among female athletes, who worry about being labeled bigots for speaking out against what they see as an unfair disadvantage.

Some propose creating separate categories for transgender athletes or implementing handicaps to level the playing field. However, these solutions are controversial and have been met with resistance from transgender rights activists, who argue that such measures would be stigmatizing and discriminatory.

At the same time, sports organizations like the International Olympics Committee (IOC) face mounting pressure to address these concerns.

Imane Khelif's victory at the 2024 Paris Olympics has been highly contentious, with many critics arguing that her participation in the women's boxing category was unfair. These concerns stem primarily from her previous disqualification by the International Boxing Association (IBA) in 2023 due to issues surrounding her gender eligibility. The IBA's decision to ban her from the World Championships raised significant doubts about her eligibility to compete as a woman. The specifics of the IBA's testing procedures were not fully disclosed, but the ban implied that Khelif did not meet the standard criteria traditionally required for female athletes.

Critics argue that her participation in the Olympics, despite these earlier disqualifications, highlights the inconsistencies in how gender eligibility is determined across different sporting organizations. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed her to compete mainly based on legal technicalities like she is stated as a woman in her passport! Many rightly viewed this as undermining the integrity of women’s sports. Detractors claim that Khelif's physical advantages, which may be tied to her gender eligibility issues, gave her an unfair edge over her competitors. This controversy has sparked broader debates about the fairness of allowing athletes with questionable gender eligibility to compete in women’s categories.

These criticisms have been amplified by instances where Khelif's performances were notably dominant, such as her unanimous win against Yang Liu. Many believe these outcomes reflect the inherent physical advantages she possesses, which they argue are not mitigated by current regulations. The controversy surrounding Khelif’s Olympic gold has led to renewed calls for more stringent and transparent gender eligibility criteria to ensure fair competition in women’s sports.

The inclusion of transgender women in women’s sports raises difficult questions about the balance between fairness and inclusivity. While the number of transgender athletes in elite sports is small, their impact on competition is worryingly disproportionate, leading many to call for a re-evaluation of current policies.

The history of women’s sports is one of struggle and hard-fought victories. Title IX, passed in 1972, marked a significant milestone in the fight for gender equality in sports, leading to a dramatic increase in female participation at all levels of competition. Today, women athletes continue to break barriers and achieve new heights, but the inclusion of transgender women in their categories threatens to roll back these gains.

In conclusion, the issue of transgender athletes in women’s sports is a complex and contentious one. It is very important to protect the integrity of women’s sports and ensure that female athletes have a fair chance to compete. As this debate continues, sports organizations must find a balanced solution that upholds the principles of fairness, safety, and equality for all athletes. Creating separate categories for men, women, and transgender athletes could be a viable way to achieve this balance, allowing everyone to compete on a level playing field.

#women #Sports #swimming #imanekhelif #Olympics #olympics2024 #transgender #fairness #equality #hormones #testosterone #FairPlay #WomenInSports #EqualityInSports #ProtectWomensSports #SportsDebate #GenderEquality #AthleteRights #SportsFairness #TitleIX #BiologyInSports #TransInSports #LevelPlayingField #SportsJustice #AthleteAdvocacy #SportEthics #women #sports #womensrights 

 

Should Parents Help with Kid's Education? 12 tips on how parents can support learning!

Teaching begins at home like most things. Parents are a child's first friend and teacher. Watch this video for some useful tips on how parents can help support their kids in their holistic learning journey.

#parenting #kids #children #tamilvlog #tamil #school #learning #habits #routines #growth #reading #teacher #sunithashyam #indruoruthought

Happy Women's Day 2024

Happy International Women’s Day to all the amazing women and the brilliant, supportive men out there!

As individuals, it's crucial to recognize, appreciate, and actively promote the inclusion of women and girls, in line with the campaign theme for International Women's Day 2024 which is ‘Inspire Inclusion’. Sharing this understanding, support, and encouragement with others is equally vital.

Collectively, organizations and groups can champion inclusion through various actions, such as:

• Ensuring access to quality education and training for women & girls

• Empowering women economically and financially

• Facilitating women & girls' involvement in leadership, decision-making, business, and STEM fields

• Providing informed health choices for women & girls

• Recruiting, nurturing, and advancing diverse talent

• Engaging women & girls in sustainability initiatives, including agriculture and food security initiatives

• Designing infrastructure that meets the specific needs of women & girls

• Enhancing women & girls' participation and success in sports

• Promoting the creative and artistic endeavors of women & girls

By taking concerted action in these areas and addressing any additional areas vital for the progress of women & girls, organizations and groups can actively foster a more inclusive and equitable society for women and girls.

Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress!

#InternationalWomensDay #WomensDay2024 #women #girls #inclusion #progress #health #society #equality #empowerher #empoweringwomen #empowerment #SupportHer #understanding #encouragement #veritadyne

Happy Mother's Day 2023

A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world - Agatha Christie

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers, whether you are a biological mom, foster mom, adoptive mom, a pet mom or any other kind! ❤️

#Mothersday2023 #mothersday #mother #motherhood #motherlove #mothersdaygift

International Nurses Day 2023

Today marks International Nurses Day, commemorating the birth anniversary of the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale.

Beyond her stellar contributions during the Crimean war, leading to the emergence of her now-famous persona “The Lady with the Lamp”, her most important contribution was creating the first secular nursing school! Florence Nightingale thus laid the foundation of professional nursing at the St Thomas hospital which is now part of King’s College London. She was also a mentor to many women, who went on to become the first trained nurses in various countries, including the United States. 

Healthcare professionals, medical personnel and caregivers need good educators and a supportive education system to not just perfect critical skills but also engender the warmth of caregiving, which goes beyond the clinical practice of Medicine.

As an educator myself and having taught pre-med and nursing students for many years in core clinical subjects, I too have had the privilege of learning from close quarters the import of this vital profession.

India too has a rich contemporary history of producing not only a great number of nurses but also highly capable, adaptable and conscientious individuals who have proved their mettle in some of the toughest situations including World War II.

So, here’s to our Nurses! May the light of Florence Nightingale’s lamp be a beacon for holistic education and the warmth needed for caregiving! Our Nurses. Our Future.

🎨Henrietta Rae (1881/91) courtesy Wellcome Library, London.

#nurse #InternationalNursesDay #nurses #nursesday #nursing #health #healthcare #medicine #medical #education #FlorenceNightingale #publichealth #hygiene #sanitation #hospital #veritadyne

International Women's Day 2023

This International Women's Day,

Fight for:

Equal pay

Inclusiveness

Equity

Equality

Fight against:

Abuse & violence

Gender bias

Discrimination

#InternationalWomensDay #EmbraceEquity #EqualityForAll #discrimination #genderbias #abuse #EqualPay #Gender

Happy Birthday Smt. Sarojini Naidu!

A proponent of civil rights, women's emancipation, and anti-imperialistic ideas, Smt Bharat Kokila Sarojini Naidu was not only an important person in India's struggle for independence from colonial rule but remains one of the most inspiring role models across the world!

Fierce nationalist; freedom fighter; women's emancipation, social welfare, & civil rights proponent; writer; poet; and India's first woman governor!

Tireless crusader and architect of modern India! These below pictures speak volumes about her capabilities and achievements.

#sarojininaidu #civilrights #nationalist #governor #poet #writer #socialwelfare #society #India #rolemodel

From Darkness to (moon)Light - India's Services Sector in Need of Enlightenment

"A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world." - Oscar Wilde

What is Moonlighting? 

Very simply put, people taking up extra work other than their full-time job, which is traditionally expected to be 9 to 5, without informing their current employer, is called moonlighting. 

Recently this whole discussion came to the fore in India when Wipro's chairman Rishad Premji tweeted "There is a lot of chatter about people moonlighting in the tech industry. This is cheating - plain and simple."

Following this, last week, Wipro also sacked 300 employees stating the same reason, further explaining that they also worked for Wipro's competitors. Following suit, TCS, Infosys and IBM have also warned their employees that moonlighting is unethical and will lead to disciplinary action or even termination. 

However, Tech Mahindra CEO, C P Gurnani, recently said that it is required to change with the times and also said, "I welcome disruption in the ways we work". 

India's Union minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, yesterday joined this debate by tweeting in support of employees moonlighting if they wish to use their skills and time to expand their work, which will also help the country with talent deficit. He has strongly recommended companies to embrace this change and not to suppress talent & the very intention to innovate.

Satya Nadella, the CEO of Micrsoft, went one step further and coined a new term "Productivity Paranoia", which is companies feeling their employees are not being their productive best, leading to unwelcome activities such as spying on the employees. Microsoft firmly believes that employee surveillance is just wrong and in today's hybrid work models, to bridge the gap between what employers and employees want is of utmost importance. Employers should in fact be more concerned about employee burn-out as worktime and 'other' time have completely blurred following the imposed WFH culture due to the pandemic.

It is my opinion that people must have the freedom to work on what they want in their own time (i.e. time not paid for by an employer). Most companies do have 'Non-disclosure' agreements (NDAs) and ‘Non-compete’ clauses (NCCs) in work contracts which employees commit to, which should cover any ethical concerns. Employees on the other hand could avoid conscientiously working for a direct competitor and should definitely not engage in unethical practices which will only spoil it for everyone as seen in the case of Wipro. 

Of concern, however, is in the loose definition of 'competitor'. Big conglomerates could even consider a start-up as competition and thus stop employees from utilising their private time to work pretty much anywhere within a sector which would otherwise benefit from access to their skills. This could be the primary reason for employees to leave other work undisclosed. 

It should be deemed unethical for companies to have a blanket contract that prohibits employees from taking up any other paid work. Not only is this treatment of employees as bonded labour antediluvian, but it is also plain unconscionable and does not fit in a digitally mobile world, especially post COVID! Employees must stand up for their rights, including that of privacy, and reject such contracts. NDAs and NCCs, on the other hand, need to be rational and clearly articulate a company’s terms, which must be explained to prospective/current employees, giving them a fair chance to accept, come clean, or reject the terms. Such mechanism can help mitigate perceived threats of moonlighting and develop an atmosphere of trust in which employees are self-motivated to ensure ethical conduct and can feel safe disclosing their other commitments. 

 More than policies and policing, it is a company’s culture which will define whether moonlighting becomes a threat or an engine of positive transformation for both employer and the employee.

Nabiya - A moving story that encourages kids to read!

Little Dragon Reader is back with this inspiring story about a little girl's initiation into the wonderful world of books & reading by an understanding and dedicated teacher. The beautiful illustrations evoke excellent imagination of her world, especially with her good friend and how she journeys into the world of reading.

Nabiya - A Moving Story that Encourages Kids to Read! - YouTube

#kids #reading #story #KidsBooks #kidsreading #books #illustrations #book #friendship #bookstore #teacher #education #learning #motivation

Like it, Share it, and Subscribe to Little Dragon Reader's channel https://cutt.ly/vyBdAEW

https://youtu.be/-uRJXqEKejY

Tamil Nadu school events this summer!

Teaching – a calling which I have always been passionate about, and an important aspect of my academic and professional journey thus far – is central to fostering a cultivated society. And despite pandemic-induced disruptions and the proliferation of new modes of teaching, schools remain indispensable centres of vital interactions, knowledge exchange, and holistic learning that students carry with them all their lives.

This summer I had the privilege of being invited for two school events in Tamil Nadu, India. 

As the guest of honour at a vision health camp for students at Government High School - Karunkuzhi, in Tamil Nadu's Kancheepuram district (an important seat of learning since time immemorial), I was delighted to have the opportunity to interact with students from grades 10 to 12.

My address, to have been delivered in the school auditorium, was instead - by delightful happenstance - conducted outdoors to accommodate the wider student body. Under the shade of beautiful trees and amidst the buzz of young minds, I engaged with them across a broad spectrum of topics including the process of education and pathways to learning, higher education in India and abroad, traditional and non-traditional career options, research and technology, and so much more.

What I really enjoyed were the interactions with various student groups and individuals who I found to be extremely bright, confident, and very well informed about regional, national, and international developments. During these discussions we spoke on pertinent aspects including social responsibility, women's health, substance abuse, and confronting socio-economic challenges. I was pleasantly delighted to hear of one student discussing in front of the whole audience her dreams of becoming a dancer. I was very happy to see her not shying away from discussing her question in public and was even more surprised to hear how she had already started making international enquiries to unlikely countries as far as South Korea! She knew of scholarship possibilities and was ready to go if she was lucky to get one!

In my interactions with the Headmistress and faculty, I commended them on their academia-related undertakings and also for effectively fulfilling a variety of administrative requirements that are being meticulously followed-up and assessed by the state government. While there is a huge scope of improvement in Government funded schools, I understood all the many challenges that the school administration and staff face and some of the steps they take to perform better. 

It was also a privilege to be invited as an honoured guest of the Social Education and Rural Development (SERD) Trust, in Tamil Nadu’s Kancheepuram district, for their recent student outreach initiative supporting the National Securities Depository Limited’s (NSDL) nation-wide ‘Chalo, School Chale’ campaign. As part of this campaign, NSDL is providing under-privileged students with educational kits comprising essential items to supplement their learning.

It was amazing to see the energy and excitement of young students who truly cherish their time at school among friends. What more could I say to this electric bunch other than to stay excited and reach for the stars…come what may!

Being actively and very successfully rolled-out by NSDL across Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Kolkata, Mangalore, and also across various sub-urban areas, SERD is to be congratulated for their efforts in helping this meaningful campaign find its way to a small rural school in Kancheepuram dist.

#school #schools #education #chennai #learn #learning #tamilnadu #chengalpet #kanchipuram #serd #nsdl #government #governmentschools #teaching #teachers #challenges #interactions #women #girl #student #students #privilege #opportunity

Happy Daughters' Day 2021

Happy Daughters’ Day to all the daughters of this world. You make this world beautiful and this life so precious!

May the daughters of the next generation
• Be fully empowered
• Never know the existence of gender pay gap
• Have access to equal opportunity as a basic right
• Never know sexism!

Tall dreams indeed, but what will we not do for our daughters?!!
To the treasured two darlings who made me a mother – Thank you 
I strive every day to be more worthy of you and your infinite love.

When I need to derive strength, all I have to do is remember whose daughter I am. I hope that will be true for you too one day 

#DaughtersDay2021 #daughter #love #empowerment #equality #genderequality #motherhood #beautiful #preciouslife #kids #girls #women