Women’s sporting rights protest at regatta

A PROTEST highlighting the rights of women in sport took place at Henley Women’s Regatta on Saturday.

Members of the Women’s Rights Network dressed up as dinosaurs and carried a banner to raise awareness of their #SaveWomensSport campaign.

The peaceful demonstration, which involved handing out leaflets and speaking to people on the towpath, was aimed at British Rowing, which has not announced a ban on transgender women taking part in female events. It is widely expected that the sport’s governing body will follow other sports, such as cycling, and bring in a ban.

But campaigners are upset at the delay, meaning transgender women with reduced testosterone are still eligible to compete in women’s races.

Jane Sullivan, who helped organise the protest, said: “I have been a rower and a coach for 40 years and when I started there were only 1,000 women who rowed in this country. I have seen women’s rowing grow. Over the last few years I have become so concerned by the policies of some sporting bodies to allow men to compete with women.

“We spoke to hundreds of people and the vast majority were absolutely gobsmacked that any one of the crews in the female category could have a male in it.

“A couple of people handed back our leaflets but overall the reaction was positive.”