Gender on application form

[SuperSange]

I'm applying for an internally advertised position; maternity cover as senior to my current position. Filling in the form, came to the optional section with marital status etc, which I always leave blank. However, the sex/gender section had me puzzled. There were 3 bits, as pictured. I'm happy to approach HR after the position has been given, but I'm not sure what to say. It's a college, so I do need to be a bit careful about my job. There's no 'sex' category on there at all!!

Thanks for any advice. X

Not sure what the issue is? The only bit that stands out for me is the option regarding sex at birth.
I would have thought that one could only be born male or female?? What other options are there????

Sex is the protected characteristic under the 2010 Equality Act.

Just it isn't protected at all eh?

Stuff like this is so annoying!

Tiredemma-sex doesn't appear there at all?

And even in the 'gender at birth' bit, wtf is 'other'?

I don't understand it either. Sex and Gender identity should cover it.

There has been a deliberate move to replace sex with gender everywhere. Even government departments covertly switched from recording sex to gender as is they're the same thing.

Good; thank you. I wasn't sure if it was me missing a point or something. So what can I say to them? Just pin t out that as per the 2010 legislation, it's sex that is the protected characteristic? That being the case, why is it more important that sex is on the form for data analysis purposes? I'm not sure exactly what to say.

If you cross out 'gender' in the 1st and 3rd boxes, and replace it with 'sex', it makes marginally more sense, but labels you as a dangerously subversive GC. Which might prejudice the selectors.

What if you crossed out 'other' and replaced it with 'Prefer not to say' in each box? Then you are merely bringing the questions into line with the rest of the voluntary section. You would have to chose that option throughout, though.

Or, given that you need to pick your battles because you need the job, and presuming that you are a woman by virtue of being an adult human female, you could tick female, other, female.

It's a monitoring form - it's so they can produce statistics nothing to do with recruitment to the position. You might not like it but lots of young people prefer to identify as "other" they aren't on hormones or doing anything drastic, think of it as like experimenting with hair in our day (yes it's confusing but as long as they don't take hormones it does not have long term effects, most grow out of it around here)

Just fill in the first box? Or add in prefer not to say?

I think what people don’t like anniehm is not that people have gender identities but that sex, a protected characteristic which should be monitored because of historical and ongoing discrimination against females, isn’t being.

This is something that is really important to record to be able to identify and highlight discrimination (such as the 50,000 + women who lose their jobs because females have babies: www.telegraph.co.uk/women/politics/charity-launches-biggest-ever-protest-against-maternity-discrimination/amp/).

To be clear, I don't care a shit what people identify as, that's not the point of my post.

My question is, for those who have RTFT, After the post has been awarded, how do I bring up that the form is erasing sex along with the implications on staff of that? I just want to know what to say in an email. I don't want to be shot down by management speak bollocks, which I have been before when questioning this kind of thing.

And to be clear, I'm leaving the whole section blank. It's not for me, it's for the others who feel compelled to answer.

jellyfrizz's last post could be the basis of an email, questioning the form on the basis of sex being a protected characteristic under the 2010 legislation. Asking for gender 3 times and not for sex is confusing and they won't get the information that they need to monitor protected characteristics.

It’s very odd to have 3 sections like that. Surely two are asking the same question.
Moreover what difference does it make to the job? Does it actually matter?

What worried me more what when I recently had to fill out a form at a sexual health clinic and the only question was ‘what gender do you identify as?’ Nothing about sex at birth. Surely in a sexual health clinic the nurse knowing if they are going to be dealing with a penis or a vagina is vital.

This is interesting:

www.ecu.ac.uk/guidance-resources/using-data-and-evidence/monitoring-questions/

It’s maternity cover.

Do they think you would be covering someone because of their ‘gender’?

So looking at this from a trans rights perspective, let’s say they meant sex and sex assigned at birth and gender ID. If one is, say, a perfectly passing Trans woman who has had every surgery and has had female like hormone levels for 30 years. This person would argue that even if their sex was male at birth, that they are at least no longer completely male. So that person would choose sex = female or other, gender ID = female, sex at birth = male

Feelings: male /female
Feelings identity (the feelings you identify with): male/female
Feelings at birth: male/female

What a load of cobblers.

Unfortunately one has to swallow down such rubbish in job application scenarios.

There is published guidance for public bodies on how they should word and collect data on both sex and gender identity. I've posted it in the past but can't lay hands on it right now.

Sex cannot be changed.

@Barracker If you happen to remember where you saw it, could you please let me know? Sounds like just the sort of backup I'll need. Thank you x

I would have thought they should ask the two protected characteristics for monitoring purposes

Sex: male / female / prefer not to say (*NB legal sex is what is recorded on your birth certificate)

Gender reassignment : are you planning, are you undergoing or have you undergone a process to change your gender: Yes/ No/ Prefer not to say

Super the way I would approach it is in a pedantic, lawyer like fashion. Tell them you’re concerned about the way they’re recording the information because it doesn’t align with the law on the issue. Point out that to monitor EA protected groups they need to be recording Legal sex, gender identity and sex recorded at birth. That their current wording is somewhat confusing and imprecise in an area where there is a lot of turbulence and that it is far better to stick to the correct language in relation to protected characteristics, especially since their current method will likely incorrectly record figures for both gender reassignment and sex. That currently (assuming you are in the U.K.), no one can have anything other than male or female recorded at birth, so the “other” option should go in order to improve data quality and that “prefer not to say” options should be included on all questions in keeping with the rest of the section and it’s voluntary nature.

On clerical forms I’d leave ‘gender’ blank or cross it out and write ‘sex’. Unfortunately most forms I have to complete these days are electronic and neither of those are an option. It’s like they are forcing us to chose gender over sex. At my most paranoid I wonder if this shift to electronic forms has anything to do with the high number of trans in IT.