GENDER NEUTRAL CENSUS
Declaring your sex in next survey could be optional
DECLARING your sex could be optional in the next census under proposals aimed at recognising transgender people.
The Office for National Statistics is considering making the gender question voluntary in the 2021 national survey ‘for the benefit of intersex and non-binary people’. It would mean anyone filling out the form would not be obliged to answer ‘male’ or ‘female’ – and could simply leave it blank.
Last night, there were concerns it could leave civil servants without a precise figure for the number of men and women living in the country. It is vital to have accu- rate data on the make-up of the population to plan for the future and allocate resources.
In the most recent census in 2011, 4 million people declined to answer the only voluntary question: ‘What is your religion?’
Critics said the proposed move could harm women as public officials might be denied a clear picture of how they are faring around the country. Tory MP Philip Davies said: ‘The world is going mad
and political correctness is taking over the country.’ Labour MP Jess Phillips added: ‘I think sex is important to monitor – eliminating it means we cannot see effects of certain things on women’s lives. I’m more than happy for other categories to be included such as non-binary options.’
The ‘tentative’ suggestion that the gender question is made optional was contained in a report compiled by in-house ONS researchers which was published last month.
The ONS, which organises the census, said it was one of several proposals put forward and no decision had been made.
The researchers conducted ‘in-depth interviews’ with transgender people and focus groups with non-trans people. They concluded that the existing census question, which requires respondents to say whether they are male or female, was ‘considered to be irrelevant, unacceptable and intrusive, particularly to trans participants, due to asking about sex rather than gender’.
The option of adding a third choice of ‘other’ was considered problematic as it was ‘thought to homogenise trans people and differentiate them from the rest of society’. A final option, a two-step design with separate sex and gender identity questions, was thought to be too confusing.
It is a criminal offence not to complete the census, or to give false information. More than 100 people were convicted in 2011.
The proposal was last night greeted with horror by feminists, who saw it as part of a growing trend to remove all mention of the biological female sex. Writer and academic Germaine Greer said biological women were ‘losing out everywhere’.
‘I’m sick and tired of this. We keep arguing that women have won everything they need to win. They haven’t even won the right to exist,’ she told The Sunday Times.
Stephanie Davies-Arai, a feminist activist, added: ‘Women’s biological sex is being erased and that terrifies me. Once you stop gathering information, that skews everything for women.’
Others said it would hamper the Government’s ability to make provisions for women and spot trends in society. In other countries, gender imbalance statistics have led to some shocking but important conclu-
‘Protecting people’s feelings’
sions. For example, the gender imbalance in China led experts to conclude that its one-child policy may have led some couples to opt for sexually selective abortions.
Laura Perrins, co-editor of The Conservative Woman website, said: ‘This proposal is potentially dangerous. It is important to know how many women there are of child- bearing age to plan maternity services. One of the markers of a modern nation state is functioning bureaucracy that keeps accurate statistics. This move threatens this.’
Chris McGovern, a former head teacher who has advised previous governments on the history curriculum, added: ‘For historians, census statistics are a major source for information about the past.
‘For the present government, they are important for understanding the sort of society we are living in. If one is going to have an accurate picture of social history or indeed contemporary society, one does need to know the gender balance.
‘We have capitulated to political correctness and we are no longer interested in hard data – we are more interested in protecting people’s feelings.’ Any proposed changes to the census will be contained in a Government white paper in the spring, which will then go out to consultation.