Column: The PWHL Should Learn from Olympic Boxing Mess

What should have been the greatest sporting experience of boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting's lives was turned upside down throughout the Paris Olympics as controversy raged about their gender. Both women triumphed in the end, winning gold medals in their respective weight categories.

I'm not here to re-litigate the issue. Instead, I'm here to ask a question: how does the PWHL plan to protect its athletes if a similar situation erupts in the league?

It's disturbingly easy to picture this happening in women's hockey. The second a non-femme presenting player is too good, her gender will be called into question regardless of how she identifies or what any of her government identification papers have to say about it. The internet will pile on and transphobes like Marc Methot (who let us not forget, was brought in by PWHL Ottawa to teach hitting) will take to their keyboards to decry her. The bullying will be cruel and taxing.

If history tells us anything, the player subjected to this will most likely be a woman of color, because conventionally pretty white women get to just be exceptional at their sports while women of color are interrogated at every turn. Khelif and Lin are both women of color, from Algeria and Taiwan respectively. So, too, are South Africa's Caster Semenya and India's Dutee Chand, two track and field athletes whose gender eligibility has also been viciously scrutinized. The toxic sludge of racism and transphobia faced by elite female athletes of color casts a miasma that few leagues or governing bodies in any sport seem prepared to handle.

So, what can the PWHL do to try and get ahead of this before it happens? First, have an internal player protection plan ready to go, complete with public statements of support from both the league and individual teams: be proactive instead of reactive, and prepare for the worst while hoping for the best. Second, make sure gender diversity is being taught to players from day one, and make damn sure discrimination isn't tolerated. After all, being a professional athlete is a privilege, not a right.

Finally, sort out the gender inclusion policy.

The league has faced questions about the policy dating back to at least September of 2023. It is now mid-August of 2024, almost a year after the first questions. When approached for an update on August 13th, the league responded,

"We are currently working through our gender inclusion policy with the necessary parties who need to review and provide input, and will make it public once this process is complete."

I would be lying if I said I wasn't frustrated that the policy isn't finished by now. This league is funded by billionaires and has very easy access to the resources they need to make the policy as solid as possible. I respect not rushing in order to really shore things up and to get it right the first go-round, but there comes a point when taking time starts to look a lot like foot-dragging. Is gender inclusion actually a priority for the PWHL, or isn't it?

Even after PWHL Minnesota drafted known bigot Britta Curl, the league merely issued a statement on June 14th mentioning they are "looking forward to sharing more about all we're doing to foster a more inclusive environment."

Okay, great. When? No, seriously, when do we get any details at all from the PWHL? As my colleague Angelica Rodriguez put it recently in her excellent column Wicked Angles,

"Rather than making statements that actually say anything, rather than quickly implementing any sort of independent analysis or employment review or putting together anything that would indicate action... they've been extremely quiet."