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Incredibly disappointing that SAGE would spread misinformation like this.
Biological sex is not being removed, gender is being added alongside it. Resulting in better data.
If someone can't easily gather that from these two questions, I don't even know what to say to you. https://twitter.com/SAGE_Methods/status/1361319600231747590
Biological sex is not being removed, gender is being added alongside it. Resulting in better data.
If someone can't easily gather that from these two questions, I don't even know what to say to you. https://twitter.com/SAGE_Methods/status/1361319600231747590
I'll break it down by the ONS guidelines.
Say a trans woman is filling this out, she would tick male or female depending on her legal sex.
She would then tick "no" on whether her identity matches the sex assigned at birth, and self-insert female.
Vice versa for trans men.
Say a trans woman is filling this out, she would tick male or female depending on her legal sex.
She would then tick "no" on whether her identity matches the sex assigned at birth, and self-insert female.
Vice versa for trans men.
Here you can easily distinguish birth sex for binary trans people.
If they mark that their sex assigned at birth is different to their identity, that means they are trans. You can then determine biological sex as the opposite to what they state is their gender.
If they mark that their sex assigned at birth is different to their identity, that means they are trans. You can then determine biological sex as the opposite to what they state is their gender.
There's no legal recognition for non-binary people in the UK, so by the guidelines stated by the ONS, they would mark their sex as their sex assigned as birth. Again very simple and direct.
The question of gender is optional, and is used to gather more accurate and robust data around gender and sex.
If cis people choose to complete this optional question, they will simply say their gender does match the sex they were assigned at birth.
If cis people choose to complete this optional question, they will simply say their gender does match the sex they were assigned at birth.
I'm absolutely sure many people have seen the "concerns" and debates around this, but the reality is, it's a very simple way of making the census more inclusive, without losing any integrity of the data.
And by the way, even if every single trans person did not complete this in the intended way, trans people are estimated to make up .4-1% of the population in the UK.
For comparison, .7% of respondents in the 2011 census listed jedi as their religion. The world didn't end.
For comparison, .7% of respondents in the 2011 census listed jedi as their religion. The world didn't end.
If they removed the gender question, trans people would go back to doing what we've always done, and filled as our gender anyway.
I have yet to see one compelling argument as to why it should be removed. Adding this OPTIONAL question adds integrity and context.
I have yet to see one compelling argument as to why it should be removed. Adding this OPTIONAL question adds integrity and context.
Here are the guidelines so you can read for yourself.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/censustransformationprogramme/questiondevelopment/genderidentity/census2021finalguidanceforthequestionwhatisyoursex
https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/censustransformationprogramme/questiondevelopment/genderidentity/census2021finalguidanceforthequestionwhatisyoursex
