Scotland census

[littlbrowndog]

Great twitter feed from Joan mcalpine

threadreaderapp.com/thread/1101251118611525633.html

She covers in great detail why the question what sex are you should not have the guidance that you can fill it in depending on how you live

Thread: Re Sex and the Census. For many individuals identity is very personal and important and the 2021 census will allow those people to express a trans identity for the first time. All good so far...
But sex and identity are not the same thing and require separate questions. Biological sex is an important demographic variable needed to record & plan services and understand different population trends. @NatRecordsScot themselves say this
So the sex question should stay binary. Non binary people can express their identity in the trans question. Non binary people still have a physical sex. I note that non binary is listed as part of Stonewall's "trans umbrella". It's an identity.
Individual census returns remain confidential for 100 years. Many respondants might find other mandatory questions about illness, ethnicity & personal circumstances sensitive and difficult. But they answer them knowing their privacy is protected.
During evidence I asked @LGBTIScotland how @PippaBunce should answer the census sex question if they identified as woman one day and man the next. I was told they would be non binary. But Bunce still has a biological sex which would then not be recorded.
Recording birth sex is important to monitor sex discrimination and the Equality Act 2010. Women experience discrimination on the basis of biology, not how they identify (although trans people experience discrimination too, it is of a different type)
The census sets an important precedent. How can we defend the Equality Act, which clearly gives women protections based on biological sex, if we have said this definition of sex is irrelevant to our largest data gathering exercise?