Diversity survey at work

[MrsSlocombesPussy]

Just got asked to fill in a diversity survey.
I answered 'prefer not to say' to every question, because I knew it was a waste of time when it asked me my gender.
I gave them the benefit of the doubt and thought maybe they are just using gender instead of sex, but no, my options were male, female, non binary and prefer not to say.
So I made use of the text box for prefer not to say and pointed out that gender is not a protected characteristic under the Equality Act.
For the trans question I said that my sex was observed and recorded at birth.
I normally wouldn't stick my head above the parapet, but this wound me up so much.

Best place to do it though OP, was it anonymous?

Was it anonymous?

I did something similar yesterday, but only because the survey was anonymous. Hopefully HR will take notice.

Yes, it was anonymous. There is an email address we can use for asking questions about the survey, but I don't know if that might be a step too far.
Which is also making me angry, because I'm fed up of being silenced.
However, my employer has been 'Stonewalled', so I don't know how far I can take it.
I'm hoping if I bide my time, things will become easier. Isn't Maya Forstater going to be appealing her tribunal?

My employee did a similar survey recently. I answered ambiguously on all gender/identity questions but clearly on sex/age. See what they make of that!

Whats the point of an inaccurate diversity survey? All it does is reveal they aren't supportive of diversity!

Yes, what's the point of monitoring pay if you're not accurately collecting data on sex?
I think this survey was launched in the wake of Black Lives, they found out that a lot of BAME employees were refusing to identify their ethnicity on diversity forms, out of fear of racism.

Had a similar survey today

Thought it was race oriented till I started it, as that has been the focus over the last few weeks

Got furious.

I did suffer gender dysmorphia donkeys years ago, before it had a name.
Learnt to cope, by accepting that I was born the way I was born, and by believing that anyone who makes any assumption about what i think, feel, like or can do based on my sex must be stupid or worse.

Only I keep finding that these types of discussion bring it back. When I say furious, I mean I feel angry, scared , stressed, weepy. Can't notice the shape of my body without getting a sweaty palms reaction.

I did rant.

Does anyone else who had teenage dysmorphia find the whole trans questions somehow threatening ? The whole business of born in the wrong body, implying there is something wrong with you and not the world around you?

Are they even allowed to gather data on a non protected characteristic ? There’s a reason to ask about sex, sexuality, race etc. There’s a reason to store data on those characteristics. Gender is not a protected characteristic. And so how, under GDPR, would you store irrelevant data? Perhaps because it’s anonymous ?

Genuine legal questions.

I was recently asked to fill out an equal opportunity monitoring firm by a headhunter who asked nothing about sex but asked what was my ‘gender assigned at birth’. This was not anonymous.

I’d love to tell them it was inconsistent with GDPR and the equality act but I could do with some guidance on that.

@nametoburn your final paragraph really articulates well the problem with the TRA ideology. It is the world around us that is the issue. There is no problem with our bodies, they are what we have, and they are perfect in themselves. Our job is realise it and to live the lives we want to live within those bodies. 100% support what you say.

Thanks. I know you are right. It's just knowing and feeling don't always align! It's people here that help me see I don't need to prove myself in anyway. Just be me. I have been for a run to unwind.

I tend to pick prefer not to say because the data is skewed anyway so what’s the point?

There's some useful information in this thread -
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3968891-Diversity-Inclusion-policies-by-employers-should-be-based-on-Equality-Act-does-UK-govt-state-this-clearly-anywhere

Also in this blog post -
womansplaceuk.org/2020/07/20/making-policies-equality-act-compliant/

Does anyone else who had teenage dysmorphia find the whole trans questions somehow threatening ?

Yep

I’ve learned to be happy being me. Me is who I am and that ok. But fuck me this shit brings up a lot of bad stuff Id managed to move past.