Bowls England |
Trans and Gender Diverse Policy
Bowls is an inclusive sport, open to all who wish to be involved in any capacity and we encourage all trans and non-binary participants to take part.
Bowls England is committed to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion in everything it does. We are committed to equality of opportunity for trans people and will not tolerate discrimination, victimisation or harassment on the basis of a person’s gender identity, gender expression or trans status.
For this purpose we have developed a Trans and Gender Policy for our sport which you can find here
Bowls England will demonstrate commitment to this policy in the following ways:
- Investigating fully all complaints of harassment, victimisation or discrimination on the grounds of gender identity, gender history, trans status or gender expression
- Monitoring the implementation of this policy.
- Including this policy as a criteria of membership, in Regulation 2.5.2.
Education
Clubs and Members can take this free education module, supplied by the Bowls Development Alliance to assist their education within this area here
Glossary
Gender identity: a person’s deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond to the sex assigned to them at birth
Gender expression: a person’s external gender-related behaviour and appearance, including clothing
Transgender or trans person: a person whose gender identity does not conform to the sex they were assigned at birth. These are inclusive, umbrella terms, including people who describe themselves as transsexual, cross dressing people, and people who have a more complex sense of their own gender than either 100% female or 100% male
Gender binary: the classification of sex and gender into two distinct and disconnected forms of masculine and feminine
Gender variance: gender expression that does not match society’s norms of female and male
Non binary person: a person who does not identify as solely male or female. They may identify as both, neither or something entirely different
Gender fluid: having a gender identity which varies over time
Transsexual person: legal/medical term for someone who lives (or wishes to live) permanently in the ‘opposite’ gender to that assigned at birth
Gender dysphoria: medical term for deep-rooted and serious discomfort or distress because of a mismatch between a person’s biological sex and gender identity; overwhelming desire to live in a different gender to that assigned at birth
Gender reassignment: the process of transitioning from the gender assigned at birth – the steps taken by a trans person to bring their gender presentation or personal data records into alignment with their gender identity.
Legal sex: The sex recorded on your birth certificate. Rarely relevant at work. Currently binary in the UK. Changed by applying to Gender Recognition Panel.
Gender Recognition Certificate: issued by the Gender Recognition Panel – signifies full legal rights in acquired gender and allows the issuing of a replacement birth certificate.