Nursery and gender

[Goldencurtain]

Hello, my child is about to start nursery and I've been sent a 'getting to know you' form about him and the second question asked after 'name' is 'gender'. Until I was radicalised by Mumsnet, ha! I also didn't understand the difference between sex and gender, and why it matters.

I want to say something to them about why it needs to be sex not gender, but I don't know what exactly and how to put it without sounding like a knob. It's the start of my relationship with them and don't want to come across as a difficult parent.

Help!

Why does a nursery actually need to know the child's sex ? It's a protected characteristic, it has no relevance in a nursery unless they want to start training children according to gender stereotypes, in which case I would run a mile

We collect all sorts of data about children in school, sex being one of the most important, to check that one group of children isn't disadvantaged over another.

What are the answers you can choose from? If it is male or female then they mean sex, but if there is another option then they mean gender woo woo.

Cross it out/strike through if you can, write ‘Sex:female’ or take fuller advantage of any free text box. I have been known to ask what the point of asking gender is when they don’t know/haven’t asked the sex (just depends on who has written the form, if it’s supposed to be about equal opportunities or how pissed off I am).

Or take a deep breath and ask them if they actually meant to ask the sex. I’m sure you won’t be the only parent asking.