Protesters Blast BBC for Picking Zambian Soccer Player who Failed Gender Tests as ‘Female Footballer of the Year’

The BBC has come under fire for picking a Zambian soccer player who failed gender tests and was removed from her team as the network’s Female Footballer of the Year.

The network chose Barbara Banda, 24, for the award. Banda was the same player who was forced to withdraw from Zambia’s squad for the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations for failing to satisfy the gender testing rules. However, the decision to choose Banda outraged women’s rights groups.

The national team removed Banda when officials realized that gender results were questionable. Banda did not submit for testing by the Confederation of African Football.

Banda has been registered as a female at birth but has also refused to take suppressants to lower testosterone levels, according to the Daily Mail.

The Women’s Rights Network (WRN), for one, blasted the network for bringing women’s sports into “disrepute” for choosing Banda. Others protesting include For Women Scotland and Sex Matters.

Fiona McAnena, director of campaigns for Sex Matters, told GBN, “No wonder women are protesting outside an event that should be a celebration of exceptional women’s achievements. These women are expressing what most people think but dare not say.”

“There is serious doubt that Banda is female – it is much more likely that he is a male with a disorder of sex development based on reports that he failed a gender test. No female footballer has ever been asked to lower her testosterone levels as Banda has,” McAnena added.

“Males with disorders of sex development are rare, but they are hugely overrepresented in women’s competitions because their male advantage gives them speed and strength. It’s likely Banda is one such, like the South African runner Caster Semenya,” McAnena said.

WRN added, “If female footballers fail ‘gender eligibility,’ this raises inevitable questions over their sex,” GBN added.

Harry Potter author JK Rowling also blasted the Beeb for its choice, writing, “Presumably the BBC decided this was more time efficient than going door to door to spit directly in women’s faces.”

The BBC replied that the award was based on Banda’s merit.

“As well as playing in the past two Olympic Games and the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Barbra Banda plays for the Zambian national women’s team and in the USA for Orlando Pride, making her fully eligible for the award which celebrates talent in women’s football. The five-player shortlist was decided by an expert panel made up of current and former professionals, coaches, and journalists based on performances in the last twelve months, with the winner voted for by the public,” the BBC spokesperson said.

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