To: James Sutherland, CEO of Golf Australia
Keep Women's and Girls' Golf Fair at Every Level
Golf Australia should amend its Gender Policy so that the same competitive eligibility principles used to protect fairness in elite women's and girls' golf also apply to women's and girls' competition at club and grassroots level.
Specifically, we are asking Golf Australia to:
- Apply the same female eligibility principles used for elite women's and girls' competition to sex-specific women's and girls' competitive golf at club level.
- Apply those standards consistently to junior girls' competitions.
- Continue to provide opportunities for everyone to participate through social, mixed, open and other appropriate forms of golf.
- Consult openly with female golfers, parents, clubs and other stakeholders on policies affecting women's and girls' competitive categories.
Golf Australia has already determined that eligibility restrictions are necessary to protect fairness at the elite level.
We are simply asking for that same principle of fairness to apply to women and girls at every level of the sport.
Fairness should not only matter once you reach the top.
Why is this important?
Women’s and girls’ sport needs categories that are fair and meaningful at every level, not just at the elite level.
Golf Australia has recognised that the physical advantages associated with male puberty can affect fairness in elite women’s competition, and its elite eligibility rules reflect that. Yet at club and grassroots level, different rules apply.
That doesn’t make sense.
A girl competing in a junior club competition may never become an elite golfer, but her competition still matters to her. She still trains, practises, competes and deserves the chance to succeed within a fair women’s or girls’ category.
As a father of three daughters, this matters to me personally, but this petition is not about my family. It is about every woman and girl who participates in competitive golf.
It is also not about excluding anyone from the sport. Golf should remain welcoming and inclusive, with opportunities for everyone to participate through social, mixed, open and other forms of competition.
But inclusion and fairness do not have to be mutually exclusive.
If Golf Australia believes certain eligibility standards are necessary to protect fairness in elite women’s golf, then women and girls competing at their local clubs deserve the same consideration.
Fairness should not only matter once you reach the top.