ONS reversed decision to record census by sex

I’m going for pastafarian. It’s a real thing apparently...

Nearly 3% of people in Brighton claimed to be Jedis in 2001. That made me laugh! Wiki says more people than ever filled the census in just so they could write this, but I don't think that is true, more like spin, as only 0.7% of population said their religion was Jedi.

I'm just summarising here, so legal document hasn't been explained in the guidance but could be:
Birth certificate
Gender Recognition Certificate
Passport (GP letter required)
And
Driving licence - self ID
Council tax bill addressed to Mr/Mrs - self ID

Any others?

If we do put gender critical in the 'other' section under gender we all need to agree to spell and capitalise it the same way so all the entries get the same unique database entry. Can we agree on this?

I remember it well! There was an idea that if over X amount of people declared it, it would have to become an officially recognised religion

Sadly not true :(

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi_census_phenomenon

Info^!

That’s not what the photoshot of their website states.

Our local council says the questions being debated are voluntary

The sex question is mandatory

What’s the threshold for a protected belief/religion? There’s usually a free text box under religion that could be used to capture ‘gender critical’. It’s where everyone wrote Jedi in 2001.

I'm getting a load of promoted tweets from ONS re the census just now. Anyone else?!

twitter.com/Census2021/status/1359850036738285572

I think the thing about loads of people saying religion jedi is an urban myth.

Our local council says the questions being debated are voluntary.

Can't we honestly and lawfully answer the two questions in the following way

Sex - noted at birth
Gender - unknown/ gender critical

I vaguely remember a census where a lot of people answered the mandatory question about religion which assumed a religion with ummm stormtrooper or trekkie or some such. As a result religion in general got more funding and a seat at the table on certain discussions.
If that happened for religion, what's to stop a similar result if a whole lot more women appear?

[quote MurrayBlackburnMackenzie]We've just published this blog about the ONS announcement, which we hope will be helpful.

murrayblackburnmackenzie.org/2021/02/12/ons-guidance-for-the-sex-question-in-the-2021-census-in-england-and-wales/[/quote]
But why have they done this?
There must have been some heavy outside influence!
The “final guidance” makes no sense!

Whilst the revised guidance is more tightly worded than the guidance used in 2011 and in the rehearsal for the forthcoming census, it does not represent ‘legal sex’ as defined by the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the wording remains ambiguous.
The fact remains that ONS formally abandoned the principle of gathering data on biological sex in 2011 and, against the strong advice of experts in quantitative research and analysis, have not returned to it for the 2021 census.

Can't we honestly and lawfully answer the two questions in the following way:

Sex - noted at birth
Gender - unknown/ gender critical

There are no lies there. I'm not sure if it is possible to do that as I don't know now the form is worded.

It is of crucial to note here that even if we don't fill in the form, we can simply tell the people that come to ask why we have not that we identify as having filled it in.

I suggested above that we could just go outside and legally leave ourselves out of the census -= but I've now checked (oops, my bad
and these days the form asks about "who USUALLY lives
here" not "who was here at date/time X" so while the broom cupboard hasmassivesignificance as a protest one wouldalsohave to refuse to be on the form. Sigh

Or you could tell the census filler that you officially usually live at relatives house/friends house/are homeless/whatever suits you. Unless you will be the census filler as I will and suddenly I have 8 women living here and not one man. As yet I dont know what I will call them or how they all live in a 3 bed semi, but that's just details.

I don’t have a driving licence or passport. Maybe they need to define ‘living’ at a property. I have l had builders and scaffolding up for about 3 months now - I don’t so much live here as endure/survive/inhabit.

MurrayBlackburnMackenzie a driver's licence is also a government-issued document, and they allow change of sex simply on request.

One could argue that so is a council tax bill, and that if it addresses you as Miss/Ms/Mrs it's stating your sex - that is also entirely on request.

I suggested above that we could just go outside and legally leave ourselves out of the census -= but I've now checked (oops, my bad) and these days the form asks about "who USUALLY lives here" not "who was here at date/time X" so while the broom cupboard has massive significance as a protest one would also have to refuse to be on the form. Sigh.

Thanks MBM - but depressing.

We've just published this blog about the ONS announcement, which we hope will be helpful.

murrayblackburnmackenzie.org/2021/02/12/ons-guidance-for-the-sex-question-in-the-2021-census-in-england-and-wales/

they are only considering equality and discrimination IN RELATION TO TRANS PEOPLE! WTF????

Sadly, I don't think that is uncommon. I remember the EQIA done for the ScotGov GRA consultation didn't bother to evaluate the impact on women, only on transpeople.

Just reading the section on equality monitoring . Starts with some factual info about what is stated in the Equality Act and Equality and Human Rights Commission, who define sex and what is on a person's current birth certificate (I guess I can live with that if the alternative is self-id). Then got the end of the section and realised that they are only considering equality and discrimination IN RELATION TO TRANS PEOPLE! WTF????

If you are considering how to answer, use the sex recorded on one of your legal documents such as a birth certificate, Gender Recognition Certificate, or passport.

Surely sex is the same on GRC and birth certificate - isn't that the whole point of a GRC . Why they can't just put "sex on birth certificate" I don't know.

Also, I just checked, and you can't just self-ID for a passport - you need a GRC or a letter from doctor. So that means you need to have at least made the effort of convincing a doctor.

At least the sex question isn't entirely self-Id.

Will it be possible to correct disaggregate the data by cross referencing with GRC / passport sex change requests?

"The concept of sex" CONCEPT! How did that wording even get in there?

Other organisations were met with individually, these organisations we met with in 2019, when the Census 2021 questions on sex and gender had been agreed, are listed below. Those we met with more than once on this topic are marked with a star (*)

Stonewall*

[quote FemaleAndLearning]I see they also have a coverage census to pick up those who are missing, not sure how that works in practice though. I suspect they just go to postcode areas with very low returns? I don't open my door to strangers ID or no ID.
census.gov.uk/about-the-census/about-the-census-coverage-survey[/quote]
They might self-id as someone you know. 😁