Job Applications ... curated answer to "sex" ?

[SerendipityJane]

Thought I'd ask the opinion of the collective here, before getting a legal POV ...

helping some folk with job applications, and have just come across a company that basically insists on an answer to "Male/Female". There's no option for "Prefer not to say" (which all of the companies I've seen so far have set up). This was either Male or Female with a note that if you are transitioning you should put your destination sex.

Jumped out at me since it seems to be bucking the trend.

The protected characteristic is 'sex'. Companies have a legal duty to monitor sex discrimination, so they should ask for your sex, male or female.
Self ID is not law in the UK so a person who transitions hasn't changed legal sex until they have received a gender recognition certificate.

@Thelnebriati

The protected characteristic is 'sex'. Companies have a legal duty to monitor sex discrimination, so they should ask for your sex, male or female. Self ID is not law in the UK so a person who transitions hasn't changed legal sex until they have received a gender recognition certificate.

Thanks for that.

To be honest, it wasn't the Self-ID aspect that tweaked my nose. It was the inability to answer "Prefer not to say". The way the form was designed you had to state one or the other.

That's because everybody is one or the other.

That is unusual these days!

@JellySlice

That's because everybody is one or the other.

Well, yes. But the question is should an applicant be forced into disclosing it ? After all sexual orientation, religion and ethnicity all have a "prefer not to say" option.

I wasn't sure if sex was similarly covered ?

Maybe it's been overlooked. Usually there's an option 'prefer not to say'.

@EarthSight

Maybe it's been overlooked. Usually there's an option 'prefer not to say'.

That's what I've seen so far.

Luckily the person I was helping wasn't arsed about it at all.

Seems to me that if a person's sex is irrelevant to the job, then there's no need to ask at all. But if it is relevant, then it's perfectly reasonable that female and male should be the only options available. Though the business of telling applicants to put down their ' target' sex makes a nonsense of it all, anyway.

What's the bloody point of recording sex if they then advise you to put your destination (wtf?) sex if you claim to be the opposite?
It's exactly the same as asking for gender. Same result, anyway.

Equalities monitoring when it happens is about the protected characteristics and IME there always a prefer not to say for people who don't like questions about their race etc. (Usually straight white men IME!)