Survey sex/gender options - help

[ParkingFeud]

I need to design and send out a survey at work. We want to be able to differentiate what women need from our offices and culture compared to men. Official company line to use is "what is your gender?' Then male female trans non binary other options. I don't answer surveys that only ask for gender and I want to make sure we are not excluding women's voices because they are so pissed off by this question. We are not a stonewall company but obviously I don't want to rock the boat too much. I can play ignorance and push back a little. What would you most like to see and not feel excluded by? (apart from the impossible obvious option of sex: male and female!) Some users will speak English as second language too.

How about you follow the example of the census? Ask for sex, and an optional question on 'gender identity'.

census.gov.uk/help/how-to-answer-questions/paper-questions-help/what-is-your-sex

That captures both protected characteristics of sex and gender reassignment, without being unnecessarily complicated or confusing.

Sex. Then an optional gender question, surely?

Or:
Do you have a gender identity? Yes/No

If yes then what is it
If no then what is your sex

@TeenMinusTests

Or: Do you have a gender identity? Yes/No

If yes then what is it
If no then what is your sex

That's arse about face tbh. Everyone has a sex, male or female. A minority also have a 'gender identity' which might be relevant to the survey.

We want to be able to differentiate what women need from our offices and culture compared to men.

If you have that aim then you have to ask their sex, surely? It is fundamental to answering your main aim.

In the context of what women and men need, while obviously sex is the most vital parameter for sorting the responses, I think you do need the gender identity one. If your org has trans/NB people then there may need to be 'third space' provision, for their benefit but also for womens.

I completely and 100% agree. I also love my job and don't want to lose it!
It looks like two questions is the way to go. I don't think work will be that happy but it does make sense. Or at least more sense.

We want to be able to differentiate what women need from our offices and culture compared to men.

This is an Equalities Act thing, isn't it? So, the 9 protected characteristics, which include "Sex". You could then ask if a respondent's 'gender presentation' is different from their sex recorded/observed at birth.

I don't see how you could be jeopardising your job by suggesting the same format (or similar) to the official census.
And if you get pushback, maybe calmly point out that one thing women absolutely need is to have their needs and concerns listened to and addressed.

You could go with the census version, although that does lump together natal women and transwomen with a GRC.

If you want to be able to identify biological women as a separate group, then you need something like
“1 What is your birth sex (as recorded as on your birth certificate)”
“2 What is your gender identity, if different to the answer at question 1”.

Ideally the answer options for question 2 would include “none” or “n/a”

What about asking "Are you" then tickboxes "Male" "Female". I did a lateral flow test recently and when I went to input the results, I noticed that the form was phrased in a similar way. I.e. instead of saying "what is your sex" or "what is your gender" or even getting into the whole "do you have a gender identity that is different bla bla bla", it just said something along the lines of "What does it say on your medical records?" and the possible answers were Male and Female. Very clever!

And actually, as per GDPR, you need to be really careful if you're capturing sensitive data (which the gender identity stuff is very close to being), and you should only collect data for a specific purpose. Personally, I would accept that some transgender people will just answer with their chosen gender however you phrase it, so assuming any skew in your office survey will be tiny and insignificant (unlike, say, data on sex crimes!), just ask one question and accept that a tiny minority might answer it according to their current identity not their birth sex.

(I am obviously assuming that your office doesn't have masses of genderfluid non-binary graduates who will kick up a fuss! If so, maybe add a third option - "I am..." "Male" "Female" "I have a different answer, please state". (I would be loath to offer "Other" as it suggests endorsement that there is an "other").

Go with Frosty.

Are you...?
F
M
Prefer not to say*

*it's good practice to allow people to withhold "personal" or "sensitive" info

I'm really interested by this and would love to understand your views a little more!

For me I feel like the transgender community is so small, putting them at risk of being 'outed' by asking sex rather than gender/gender identity might not be the most inclusive option. Of course if you have a very high volume of transgender colleagues then that's different, but I can't imagine the needs of women not being clear because

[quote LittleMrsMama]I'm really interested by this and would love to understand your views a little more!

For me I feel like the transgender community is so small, putting them at risk of being 'outed' by asking sex rather than gender/gender identity might not be the most inclusive option. Of course if you have a very high volume of transgender colleagues then that's different, but I can't imagine the needs of women not being clear because