In early 2026, the BISp-funded project “Gender Diversity im organisierten Sport in Deutschland: Eine mehrperspektivische Untersuchung von geschlechtlicher Vielfalt und die Entwicklung von Handlungsempfehlungen für den Sport” (GenderDivers) was launched. Led by Bettina Rulofs and Birgit Braumüller from the Department of Diversity Studies, the three-year project, in collaboration with the Department of Molecular and Cellular Sports Medicine, the three-year project addresses the question of how gender diversity can be managed in organized competitive and elite sports in Germany against the backdrop of demands for inclusion, fairness, and equal opportunity.
The issue of gender diversity is becoming increasingly contentious in organized competitive and elite sports, and the public debate suggests that equal opportunity is particularly at risk in so-called “women’s sports.” The binary gender logic of sports poses particular challenges in addressing gender diversity—for example, creating barriers to participation for trans*, inter*, and non-binary (tin*) individuals—while simultaneously providing fertile ground for controversial gender debates. Not least due to political developments, sport is currently called upon more than ever to address gender diversity and to open up sport in the spirit of the “sport for all” paradigm, enabling equitable participation for everyone.
The project follows a multi-perspective research approach and is structured as follows: First, two systematic reviews will be conducted: (1) on the current state of sports medicine knowledge regarding the performance and health status of tin* individuals (subproject lead: Wilhelm Bloch, Dept. of Molecular and Cellular Sports Medicine) and (2) on current regulations governing the participation of tin* individuals in national and international federations. Subsequently, three subprojects will systematically collect and analyze the perspectives, attitudes, and experiences of various stakeholder groups: (1) tin* athletes and experts from the queer community (qualitative interviews), (2) elite athletes in Germany (quantitative online survey), and (3) officials from sports federations and professional leagues (focus group discussions). In the fifth subproject, the findings will be synthesized to develop, through a participatory process, a practice-oriented guide for addressing gender diversity in competitive and elite sports, which will then be disseminated through extensive outreach activities in sports practice.
The project is based on collaboration among the following stakeholders from sports federations, the queer community, and academia.
Contact persons at the DSHS:
Project Description (DE) in FIS