Job application not asking for sex, but asking if cis or trans

[JobHuntingPerson]

In the middle of applying for a job online, got to the equality and diversity section, all the usual questions about sexuality, religion ethnicity. I know a lot of people hate answering those questions but I think they can be important for companies to monitor their inclusivity.

Anyway, there was no sex question, it did not ask if I'm male or female. Instead there was a gender identity question, asking if I'm Agender, Cisgender, Trans, Queer, Intersex, Non -binary or prefer another term.

So basically, if or when the company does an equality review they will have no idea how many women they employ, no idea how to monitor or prevent any sexist culture growing in the workplace that makes life harder for female employees- or means we never get employed by them in the first place.

Has anyone else who's job seeking at the moment, or working in HR, seen anything like this. Is it becoming the norm?

I found it quite off-putting and don't know how to answer the question.

I didn't realise I stumbled into a GC echo chamber. 😳😂

@Floisme

I'm not surprised. Where do you go after a comment like that

There's a thread on answering questions with the wrong answer only which might suit?

I didn't realise I stumbled into a GC echo chamber. 😳😂

ROFL - who'd have thunk that feminists, on a forum for parents, might know a little bit about sex, and be happy to educate about it.

OP - I'd 'prefer not to answer' - it's entirely inappropriate on so many levels to even be asking, let alone how they're asking, and the options they give.

Anyway op, if you don't need that job I would ditch them. It doesn't bode well at all.

Select 'other term preferred' and put female.

Or just email explaining that the options are useless and possibly illegal (intersex).

I can't believe that...

... and if they are going to put 'queer' why not 'poofter' or any of the other derogatory term?

@Skyliner001

I didn't realise I stumbled into a GC echo chamber. 😳😂

Eh? I think you've stumbled into somewhere people understand biology.

Big red flag for me too, especially as they seem to not even know what the page at the back is for. I would also be very worried about their handling of any of the other characteristics such as disability or ethnicity.

Though at least now I know what cis means, so that was helpful.

I wouldn't even carry on with the application. Imagine working for a company full of woke wet cabbages, with colleagues being triggered if you used the wrong pro-noun. Nah. Fuck that.

At a practical level, if a company chooses to erase sex from their equality and diversity data, I would worry about their HR policies around things like pregnancy.
They might very well be, at some level, in breach of the Equality Act or related legislation, where the sex of your employees is very much relevant (it is a protected characteristic, and so are pregnancy and maternity)
It's very possible that right now, they would fail an audit on that topic...
Name and shame?
(I believe their HR department has been very poorly advised, at a legal level)

I didn't realise I stumbled into a GC echo chamber

I don't think you realise what sex is.

I’d just write in bold letters I am a woman.

Wouldn't touch that company with a bargepole!

What the ACTUAL FUCK???

@Skyliner001

Touched a nerve. Enjoy your outrage. I'm out.

You didn't touch a nerve you just made yourself look silly

@Skyliner001

I didn't realise I stumbled into a GC echo chamber. 😳😂

I mean, an echo chamber means people refusing to listen to opposing viewpoints and just affirming each other. We would definitely listen to you if you had come back with anything more coherent than 🙄 but it's hard to unpick an emoji

This is symptomatic of all that is wrong right now, that it is becoming impossible to categorise ‘woman’. The category ‘cis’ includes men and women; they are seeking to erase us as a category and call it progressive.
What about the equality act, in practice does it mean anything? You are right, how can they collect data with regards to female employees if they are not recognised.

I'd be tempted to send it to an intersex advocacy group and/or the CIPD (HR professional body) so they can see what kind of muddle HR teams are getting into.

@namechange9357

I'd be tempted to send it to an intersex advocacy group and/or the CIPD (HR professional body) so they can see what kind of muddle HR teams are getting into.

VERY good idea

...is it multiple choice? It's a terrible question wherever you stand irt gender ideology. Most self-defining queer people would also be cisgender?!

Is it Springer? I've just had a weird style guide update from them that is going to make nonsense of quite a lot of their medical publishing shortly. Luckily (?) engineering, quantum mechanics etc are less likely to care whether the wall identifies as a neutrois demiboy.

@Skyliner001

Touched a nerve. Enjoy your outrage. I'm out.

Oh dear, someone doesn't understand the difference between sex and gender.

How does this help them to monitor the protected characteristic of sex? Or gender reassignment for that matter. And including intersex on their menu of woke options is just awful.