Aren’t Women-Only Sports Events Patronising and Sexist?

Why do we have women-only sports events? Why can’t women just compete with the men?

“But that would be unfair!” some might argue. They may say that, in many sports, especially the ones that require physical strength, women are genetically disadvantaged.

So? Lots of people are genetically disadvantaged. You wouldn’t expect a 5ft 2in man to win the men’s 100m sprint — but you don’t get a special Olympic event for short people.

You might get a paralympics event for people with “dwarfism” — but then, if women need a special event because of the genetic disadvantages that handicap them, perhaps that should be in the paralympics too!

In the Olympics, the men’s 100m and 200m track events are almost always won by black men of West African descent. They have a genetic advantage, so everyone else is at a genetic disadvantage, but you don’t have a special 100m for white men or for Asian men, so why have a special race for women? We even have separate women’s events in many sports where there is no obvious physical disadvantage anyway.

Thinking about it rationally, most women’s events don’t make much sense in a world where we are supposed to have put patronising sexism behind us. I’m not suggesting they should be banned by law — but I think it’s ridiculous to…