ICC bans transgender women players
ICC Board Meeting: The ICC Board in its meeting banned cricketers who have undergone ‘male puberty’ (the physical/sexual change that occurs during puberty in males) from participating in the international women’s game. The ICC board has approved new gender eligibility rules for international sports, barring female transgender players, following discussions with sports stakeholders. This rule will be reviewed in two years.
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The ICC’s decision will affect Daniel McGee, who earlier this year became the first transgender player to play in international cricket. Danielle McGee is originally from Australia, but moved to Canada in 2020 and transitioned from male to female in 2021. In September 2023, she played for Canada in the Women’s T20 Americas Qualifier.
Under the new ICC rules, any male-to-female player (transgender female player or male sex change male player) who has undergone any form of male puberty will not be allowed to participate in women’s international matches, even if they have Have resorted to any surgery or gender reassignment treatment. The new ICC rules are designed to preserve the integrity, security, fairness and inclusion of the women’s game.
According to an ICC press release issued on Tuesday, the decision was Dr. Based on a review by the ICC Medical Advisory Committee chaired by Peter Harcourt. This ICC decision will apply only to women’s international matches. While at the local level it will be up to the Member Board to decide on gender eligibility.
According to an ICC press release, ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardyce said, “The changes to the gender eligibility rules have been made after much consideration and are based on science and in line with key principles developed during the review”. .Inclusivity is incredibly important to us as a sport, but our priority was the integrity of the international women’s game and the safety of the players.”
In addition, the ICC Chief Executive Committee has decided to keep the match fees for ICC umpires the same in men’s and women’s cricket to boost the development of women match officials. Apart from this, the ICC Board has decided to have a neutral umpire in every ICC Women’s Championship series from January 2024.
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