Tom, Dick or… Mary? Shareholders Seek Clarification on How Dick’s Defines Women

09 Jun 2026 Tom, Dick or… Mary? Shareholders Seek Clarification on How Dick's Defines Women

Washington, D.C. - At Wednesday's annual meeting of Dick's Sporting Goods shareholders, activist investors with the National Center for Public Policy Research's Free Enterprise Project (FEP) will seek clarification around Dick's business decisions surrounding transgenderism and feminism.

"Dick's has claimed that the Company will 'fight to champion women and address their concerns and needs' and that Dick's is 'all in on supporting girls and women in all walks of life.' Despite these claims, Dick's has partnered with the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and Catalyst, two organizations that apparently have advanced policies prioritizing males identifying as females over actual females," FEP writes in its supporting statement for Item 4 ("Request for Report on Women's Rights Related Business Risk and Decision Framework").

FEP's shareholder proposal seeks a report "assessing whether business decisions involving transgenderism have been fully informed by both (1) a definition of 'woman' that limits the word to adult females, and (2) the risks to females stemming from having males who claim to be females forcibly inserted into women's and girls' private spaces and sports under the guise of 'transgender rights.'"

"Dick's publicly aligns itself with the spirit of Title IX, which was written to protect biological females. But Dick's also partners with groups that prioritize males identifying as females ahead of biological females…. This creates a clear contradiction," FEP Senior Advisor Curtis Hill will tell shareholders as he presents Item 4 at Wednesday's meeting.

"These policies are not harmless. They expose Dick's Sporting Goods to real risks - lawsuits from displaced female athletes, reputational harm and lost customer goodwill from those who simply want Dick's to sell sporting goods, not ideology," Hill will say.

"The bottom line is it's one of those political issues that companies have no business being in," FEP Executive Director Steve Milloy told Law.com in May. "Just sell sporting goods - that's want people want."

Dick's Sporting Goods shareholders can support Item 4 by voting their proxies before Wednesday's meeting.

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The Free Enterprise Project, the original and premier opponent of the woke takeover of American corporate life, aims to push corporations to respect their fiduciary obligations and to stay out of political and social engineering.

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