WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, Independent Women’s Law Center (IWLC) filed an amicus curiae brief in Madeline Moe v. David Yost to defend Ohio’s democratically enacted law preserving women’s sports for women. After the Ohio legislature passed H.B. 68, which also protects minors from irreversible sterilization, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) challenged the law as unconstitutional. The ACLU lost in the trial court and filed an appeal.
IWLC argues that Ohio’s Save Women’s Sports Act is not only legal, but extremely beneficial to women and society at large. IWLC presents data from its Competition Report, the go-to resource on the male athletic advantage:
- On average, males have a 10% athletic advantage over females.
- In comparison to biological females, biological males have: greater lean body mass, i.e., more skeletal muscle and less fat; larger hearts, both in absolute terms and scaled to lean body mass; higher cardiac outputs; larger hemoglobin mass; larger maximal oxygen consumption, both in absolute terms and scaled to lean body mass; greater glycogen utilization; higher anaerobic capacity; and different economy of motion.
- Studies have shown that these physical differences allow post-pubescent males to jump 25% higher than females, throw 25% further than females, run 11% faster than females, and accelerate 20% faster than females on average.
IWLC also presents research about the societal benefits for women’s sports. Girls who play sports stay in school longer, suffer fewer health problems, enter the labor force at higher rates, and are more likely to land better jobs. They are also more likely to lead. Research shows stunningly that 94% of female C-suite executives today played sports, and over half played at a university level.
“I cannot fathom why the ACLU wants to destroy women’s sports and dissolve decades of progress. The constitution certainly does not forbid women’s sports, and for good reason. Giving girls a space to compete and succeed, not to mention a private space to change, gives girls equal dignity. Our laws rightly recognize that women and men are equal, but not interchangeable,” said May Mailman, director of Independent Women’s Law Center.
The case is currently before the Ohio Tenth District Court of Appeals. You can find a copy of IWLC’s brief here.
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Independent Women’s Law Center advocates for equal opportunity, individual liberty, and respect for the American constitutional order.
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