Semenya ruling a victory for women’s rights - Kodwa
Sports Minster, Zizi Kodwa says the decision to grant sprinter Caster Semenya an appeal to challenge the Court of Arbitration for Sport reinforces the call for the protection of women’s rights in sport.
On Tuesday the double Olympic 800m champion won her appeal to the European Court of Human Rights to challenge whether her rights had been infringed in terms of requiring women with high testosterone to reduce those levels through drugs.
The 32-year-old has refused to take testosterone-lowering medication as mandated by the sport's international federation, World Athletics, if she wants to compete at her favoured distance.
Kodwa says Semenya has repeatedly displayed excellence and dignity on and off the athletics track.
"Caster has done so throughout her career whilst being subjected to offensive treatment, which has led to her being prevented from competing in her favoured events," he says.
"While the fight to have Caster racing in her favoured athletics events continues, the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights is a clear statement at how Caster has faced discrimination in her fight against the offensive regulations she has been subjected to.”
The EFF says the Semenya case shows how women, especially black women, are often victimised and discriminated against by sports governing bodies.
"We are further saddened by the constant scrutiny into Semenya’s medical history, which is telling of the treatment which women who do not conform to gender stereotypes, often receive," they say in a statement.
"Throughout her career, Caster has been subjected to intrusive testing and hormone regulation, and today she has been exonerated."
The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC)'s Andre Gaum says the ruling was a milestone in the work for gender equality.
"We have demonstrated the discriminatory effect of the regulations of intersecting grounds of race and gender - this is a great victory for gender equality, and we are over the moon about this achievement of Semenya in this human rights court," he says.
Amnesty International South Africa spokesperson, Genevieve Quintal said the discrimination cannot be tolerated.
"Everybody has a right to bodily integrity and equality; the court's decision is a win for human rights in sports and beyond, we continue to stand with Semenya and others fighting for these human rights," says Quintal.
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