‘Category: Woman’ looks into sex-testing in track and field plaguing athletes from the Global South regarded as too good to be ‘female’ and the injustices thereof.
Directed by Phyllis Ellis who played for the Canadian field hockey team in the 1984 Summer Olympics. She also directed the 2019 documentary film ‘Toxic Beauty‘ about exposure to dangerous substances from oft-overlooked beauty products like baby powder.
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Why ‘Category: Woman‘?
In 2009 an 18-year-old Caster Semenya took the world by storm. As she dominated on the track she was exposed to an onslaught of doubt and humiliation.
International Amateur Athletics Federation, now World Athletics, decided that her genetic makeup gave her an unfair advantage.
Thus they mandated that she take hormone suppressants or leave the sport. ‘Category: Women’ focuses on four other athletes forced out of competition due to sex-testing.
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Annet Negesa: Berlin, Germany
Originally from Uganda Negesa qualified and won major regional championships locally before she had a coach. An 800m runner, at 18 she won a bronze medal at the Junior World Championships.
Named ‘Athlete of the Year’ by the Ugandan Federation in 2011 she qualified for the 2012 London Olympics. Before the games, she was told by the IAAF that she had high levels of naturally occurring testosterone.
The implications of this, and the associated amendments Negesa was subject to, have kept her from international competition since 2012. Granted refugee status in Germany, a country she hopes to compete for, in 2020 she continues to train.
Dutee Chand Odisha, India
The only non-African in ‘Category: Women‘ Indian 100m record holder, Dutee Chand has been paving the for athletes since 2013. The two-time Olympian and first openly gay athlete from India was also the first Indian athlete to win gold in a 100m event at a global meet.
In 2014, Forced out of competition 2014 under the 2011 IAAF Hyperandrogenism regulations she successfully took her case to the Court of Arbitration of Sport.
Her victory meant a two-year reprieve for all women internationally to compete without prejudice.
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Evangeline Makena: Ngong, Kenya
With a short and promising career runner, Evangeline Makena was due to represent Kenya in the 400m at the 2019 World Relay Championships. But because of IAAF DSD regulations, all female athletes were tested.
Makena was immediately dropped from the team and unable to compete lost her funding as results showed that at the time of the blood test, she had higher testosterone levels than allowed by the IAAF ruling.
Opting not to take the medication she took the difficult decision to change her event and hopefully regain her sporting career.
Margaret Wambui: Neyri, Kenya
Winning gold in her first international outing, Margaret Wambui is the second Kenyan in ‘Category: Women’. The 800m specialist won Olympic bronze in Rio 2016 and silver at the 2017 Commonwealth Games.
Dropped from the Kenyan track team because of the World Athletics 2018 DSD regulations in 2019 regarding her naturally high testosterone levels. Wambui rejected medical intervention and has not competed since then.
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