GENDER POLICIES – IMPLEMENTATION FAQS

BF Licensed Compete Events (Domestic)

If your sex at birth was male, you can only compete in the Mixed (also termed ‘Mixed/Men’s) competition category in Licenced Compete events from 1 January 2025.  Only individuals whose sex at birth was female may compete in the Female category.

Transgender women athletes who were previously approved to compete can no longer compete in the Female category in BF Licensed Compete events from 1^st January 2025, regardless of testosterone levels.

FIE/EFC/IWAS International Competitions

From 1 January 2025 Transwomen will no longer be eligible for selection by BF for EFC/FIE/IWAS women’s events.

BF Licensed Compete Events

Provided you are not taking medication (including female to male hormone treatment) that makes you ineligible under UKAD, you can compete in either the Female competition category or the Mixed (also known as Mixed/Men’s) competition category or both* (if that is logistically possible). If you have started taking female to male hormone treatment you are eligible for the Mixed competition category only.

FIE/EFC/IWAS International Competitions

If you wish to be considered for international selection and you have not started female to male hormone treatment, you will need to choose on your EFC/FIE/IWAS licence application whether you want to compete in the EFC/FIE/IWAS men’s or EFC/FIE/IWAS women’s event as you cannot (as far as the EFC/FIE/IWAS systems are concerned) compete in both. This also means that a fencer with an EFC/FIE/IWAS licence can only compete in the corresponding category that relates to their licence in the National Championships*.

* see section on National Championships.

BF Licensed Compete Events (Domestic)

Regardless of your sex at birth you can compete in the Mixed (also termed Mixed/Men’s) competition category in Licenced Compete Events from 1 January 2025.

If your sex at birth was female and you have not started female to male hormone treatment you can also compete in the Female competition category and be eligible for GBR selection into women’s/female category international events.

Except for National Championships this means you can compete in both categories in one competition if this is logistically possible.

For National Championships, if you have an FIE/EFC/IWAS licence in one gender category you may not compete in the other category.  Holding an FIE/EFC/IWAS licence for women’s events does not necessarily mean that you may compete in BF organised Female category competitions.  BF will apply its Gender Policies for Licensed Events to its competitions.

If you have already registered to enter an women’s event before midnight on 31 December 2024, you will be able to compete in that event and you will earn ranking points.  However you will not be eligible for selection as a GBR representative for FIE/EFC/IWAS women’s event after 1^st January 2025.

Where no guidance is provided by the organisers and gender categories (ie categories of women/men) exist for the event, Transgender and Non-Binary participants are encouraged to take part in Licensed Recreational Events in the gender category they wish to.

If clubs are offering gender categorised recreational activities (ie categories of women/men), BF encourages Transgender and Non-Binary participants to take part in club recreational activities in the gender category they wish to.

This is irrespective of your Competition Gender Category indicated on your membership profile.

You can compete in either the Female competition category or the Mixed (also termed Mixed/Men’s) competition category or both (if that is logistically possible) in Licenced Compete Events from 1 January 2025.

If you have a FIE/EFC/IWAS female/women’s licence you may not compete in the Mixed/Men’s category in the National Championships.

National Championships have an additional requirement which means that participants must be eligible for selection for the corresponding EFC/FIE/IWAS event. This applies to nationality as well as gender category – so if you have an EFC/FIE/IWAS license it must be GBR and in the corresponding EFC/FIE/IWAS gender category that you are competing in.

Therefore if you have a female/women’s FIE/EFC/IWAS licence you may only compete in the Female category in the National Championships.

if you have a male/men’s FIE/EFC/IWAS licence you may only compete in the Mixed category in the National Championships.

The situation where people lose to people ineligible for selection already happens in the Opens/British Ranking Competitions where we have international (non GBR) fencers competing.

And we have the situation where international fencers have been in the selection window of BF rankings and the GBR Selection Policy already deals with that.

However the purpose of giving this a trial period will let us see the impact. If there is evidence that women ineligible to fence in the EFC/FIE/IWAS men’s category event are routinely pushing out eligible people from EFC/FIE/IWAS men’s selection slots that might be considered evidence that mixed competition isn’t as unfair as the research would suggest to date and we would seek to review our Policies.

The expectation is that there will be no new requirement to provide details of your sex at birth on your British Fencing registration as a result of these new Policies. If you are eligible and wish to compete in the Female competition category you should indicate that in the system as this will impact the competitions you will be able to enter on the system. All fencers will be eligible to compete in the Mixed (also known as Mixed/Men’s) competition category.

If you wish to include your gender and pronouns in your profile you can and that information is shared with competition organisers.

All competition results achieved in accordance with the Rules in force at the time, up to and including 31 December 2024 will stand. We will not retrospectively alter any results before this date.

Please do not challenge a fencer if you suspect they are competing in the wrong category. If members or non-members (including competition organisers, coaches, participants) have a concern or enquiry this should be reported confidentially and directly to British Fencing [email protected] who will investigate eligibility. This will happen after the event if the concern arises in an event.

British Fencing recognises that questions of gender and sex, trans- and non-binary, and gender critical belief can stir strong emotions. BF’s aim is always to be as welcoming and inclusive as possible and that is among the reasons why individuals should never be confronted in competition about their eligibility to compete by members of our community and/or competition organisers.

This is an issue which needs to be handled sensitively and all concerns raised should be reported confidentially to British Fencing.

If you are approached with a report of suspected ineligibility, this should be reported directly to British Fencing. You should not investigate eligibility concerns.

No, a competition will only count for one of the two types of rankings – either Women or Mixed/Men’s.

These Policies apply to Compete and Recreational licensed events irrespective of the event age categories. This includes children and veteran age category licensed events.

The pilot period is expected to start on 1^st January 2025 and will run at least until 31^st August 2026. Following the pilot period there will be a review of the implementation and further decisions made eg regarding the terminology used for rankings, replacing/re-engraving trophies etc.

During the pilot period, BF does not intend to make changes to the main BF Ranking descriptors as they are referred to in the Selection and Ranking policies – these will remain align with the FIE descriptors of ‘Men’ and Women’.  However, where possible, BF will provide additional explanatory information to explain how the ranking lists align with the new competition categories.

It is preferable that events are not held at the same time, however this may be unavoidable for logistical and financial reasons.

Competition organisers are expected to make reasonable efforts to update online competition descriptions with the new categories (eg websites, online entry forms).

If this isn’t possible and references to the previous categories remain, Licensed Compete Events must at a minimum make it clear on the entry information that:

This competition is held in accordance with the British Fencing Competition Gender Policies which means:

• The ‘Women’s event’ is the Female Category event
• The ‘Men’s event’ is the Mixed Category event

It is up to clubs to decide what works best for the club and the community it serves taking into account community needs and the law.

Clubs that run competitions for their Compete level members to practice and prepare for Ranking competitions are able to choose to use the same categories as for Ranking competitions.

Clubs serving Recreational level members are not required to implement Compete categories for club competitions.

Where clubs decide to offer gendered categorised activities (e.g women’s/men’s sessions), BF encourages Transgender and Non-Binary participants to take part in club recreational activities in the gender category they wish to.