Help me talk to my new job please - diversity, gender

[NarcissistsEyebrows]

Hi,

I've been a lurker / occasional poster here for a couple of years so I've read lots of threads.

Ive just started a new job, I'm an analyst. I've been tasked with working with HR on diversity and inclusion data.

The things I've read so far, and my own diversity monitoring form I completed when I joined only mention gender and gender identity. They're two separate characteristics which are recorded and reported on.

Everything within the stats uses 'gender' when eg looking at the split of FT vs PT for male vs female employees.

My understanding is that 'gender' is not the legally correct word when looking at a split male vs female. It's quite clear what this data is trying to achieve, it's (old parlance) looking at how many men work FT vs women work FT, ditto PT. This has nothing to do with any trans consideration. That is covered in other reports which give the stats for gender identity.

However by using 'gender' on their forms instead of 'sex' they are legally dodgy, correct? A Transman could quite correctly tick the 'male' box under Gender, also Gender Identity, whereas if they asked for 'Sex' then they'd tick 'female' under that one?

I've just stared, I don't want to piss everyone off and come across as a massive bigot, so I'd really appreciate some guidance on what is a reasonable way to discuss this with my senior managers.

Thanks

You could point out the equality legislation uses the term 'sex' not gender to provide clarity. It's not public sector by any chance is it? In which case they're breaking their equality duty.

I take the 'concerned' approach with this so usually just say that I've noticed this form/website etc is using 'gender' instead of 'sex' but 'sex' is the legal term. Could they check that this has been approved by the legal team as it is a legal requirement to use the correct terminology

If nothing else it is then on record that this was raised

Difficult, isn't it, because in your example, that person would probably tick Male for Sex as well. So you'd have to have wording like "your sex at birth", which some people might then object to and find intrusive. It's a shame this has got so muddled. I hope Ann Sinnott's case clears it up.

Sex and gender are different things. Is ask if they want to measure one or the other or else they risk getting data which could be useless.

If they want to be able to avoid sex discrimination claims then they need data on sex.

so I'd really appreciate some guidance on what is a reasonable way to discuss this with my senior managers.
Go down the 'naive' route. "The law, Equality Act 2010, says that sex is the protected characteristic. It doesn't say gender. The company could get sued if it gets the legalities wrong, couldn't it?* Why is the company using a different term? - we don't do it for the other protected characteristics."

*Hopefully, this gets their attention!

Thanks for the views.

I guess my role isn't at all legal so I'd feel uncomfortable taking that route, but I feel ok asking for clarification on the difference between gender and gender identity. The wok stuff refers to the ONS and their website has some really confusing stuff on wheh and why they use sex vs gender, but it does clearly state that sex is biological whereas gender is the innate sense of self. So to my mind gender and gender identity are definitional the same thing.

The numbers aren't identical for both so I assume some respondents have ticked 'male' for one and 'female' for the other, or maybe used the 'prefer not to say' option for identity, which seems like a misunderstanding.

I'd think calling them 'sex' and 'gender identity' makes more sense with a link to definitions to help remove ambiguity.

If people then choose to misreport that's their choice - I could call myself a Buddhist if I wanted, noone is going to challenge me or say I'm not are they? But I think the employer's responsibility is at least asking the right question

Hi - there have been a number of similar queries to yours about workplaces using the word gender when it should be sex. And they have had lots of informed responses. I just cant find the appropriate one at the moment, but am beginning to think we need this Q&A as a pinned post.

But to summarise, it isn't about how legally qualified you are, but them.

If they are monitoring then it should be inline with the EA and that refers to sex, and to gender re-assignment, not gender (identity). This may not be them being particularly woke, but that woke training has managed to persuage a lot of people to be sloppy with language (for bovious reasons.

You could just say wasn't there something in the news recently about organisations working within the guidelines of the EA?

The protected characteristics are listed here:
www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents

And in terms of the requirement for organisations to report on the pay gap, it is on sex. Unfortunately it is commonly called the Gender Pay Gap. (which further illustrates why we need to fight back against the deliberate move to try and make people think sex and gender are the same.)

I appreciate it might seem difficult, but just to ask in a sort of wide eyed innocent way, is the collection of date meant to be in line with EA objectives.

Maybe some of the other posters on previous threads would be willing to come back and explain better.

Also, and I am not an expert, but they (as they are the HR department) also need to be aware of the Data Protection Act, so that even if, with the best of intentions, they want to collect info on "gender identity" for whatever reason, that it is annonymised, and they have a valid justification for asking it.

Not saying this is the most informed advice but is relatively new www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/emp-law/data-protection/factsheet

(Sorry last bit may seem a bit of a derail, but also covers why they are asking about age, sex, etc.. One thing to collect for an annonymous survey, another to collect and store on personnel files.)