Ngā Wāhine Hākinakina o Aotearoa | Women in Sport Aotearoa (WISPA) has launched the Transgender Inclusion in Community Sport Toolkit – a practical, evidence-based resource to help sports organisations across Aotearoa create welcoming spaces for transgender, non-binary and gender diverse people. This toolkit was created in partnership with InsideOUT Kōaro and with funding from the Clare Foundation.

The Toolkit is a free resource for national, regional and local sports organisations, clubs, teams and competitions. It was co-designed by WISPA and InsideOUT Kōaro, and draws on research, lived experience from takatāpui, transgender, non-binary and MVPFAFF+ people and case studies from the Aotearoa sport sector.

Its purpose is simple – to help clubs and organisations take a practical, inclusive approach so that everyone, regardless of gender, can take part in and benefit from community sport.

The need is clear. In Aotearoa, two in five trans people have avoided sports teams or clubs out of fear of mistreatment, and only 14 percent of transgender and non-binary people had taken part in organised physical activity in the past four weeks, compared with 26 percent of the general population.

“The Toolkit is a practical, positive resource to help clubs and organisations include transgender, non-binary and gender diverse people in community sport,” says Dr Alida Shanks, whose PhD is in gender equity in community sport in Aotearoa.

The toolkit invites organisations to start with four key questions:

These questions matter because sport already accommodates enormous differences between participants.

Read the Transgender Inclusion in Community Sport Toolkit [PDF].