Staff survey - gender identity

[MARYCAT8]

Our annual staff survey has just come out and the first question asks staff to "describe your gender identity". I am sure this question used to ask for just "gender". I don't believe gender identity is a thing. I never conformed to gender stereotypes as a kid or as an adult. I don't "think like a woman" because I don't believe such a thing exists.

It is an open text box so we can write anything in it. I am planning to write "none". The thing that is frustrating is that part of my role involves challenging gender stereotypes (or sex stereotypes really) and I know how important it is to have diversity data to monitor this. I feel like I am opting out and I don't want to do that. There is no other question asking about sex or gender.

Am I making myself invisible as a woman?
I cant decide whether to be honest and put 'none' or show tacit agreement with gender theory and write 'woman'?

This is my first post and I am happy to have a sensible discussion about this but please no abuse.

Could you just put None (sex = female)

Thanks EerilyDevilled, good idea! I think I might do that. I have also noticed that in the intro text it says this section is "to monitor protected characteristics under the Equality Act". But sex is not mentioned and gender identity isn't a protected characteristic. Frustrating.

It is. I quite often put the above when filling in online forms if there is a free text box and no sex question.

We had one of these recently. I ticked the 'other' box and said my sex is female and something short along the lines of gender being a social construct.

If organisations are no longer gathering data on sex how can they say that they hire enough females?

I'd see this one out and see where it goes. Surely a few years down the line it's going to be a glaring issue that no data on demographics of staff has been gathered?

I'd leave it blank personally and if questioned say I don't understand the question. And it's not you making women invisible, it's the data collection method as it's not collecting that data, there's little you can do about it.

NHS by any chance? NHS England are Stonewall Ed to the hilt. I'm planning on kicking off about it

I’d do this. I’d make it clear gender identity is not a protected characteristic. Sex is.

I had this in an employment/profession related survey. I used the text box to state how concerned I was that without collecting data on sex they would be a in a poor position to monitor retirement age differences, hypothesise about how many in the profession may need to take maternity leave and how many are likely to be impacted by other caring related roles, who it is that works part time, or flexibly etc. Essential data needed for accurate workforce planning and monitoring of discrimination.

When my children recently entered a sporting competition I used the box to mention that I felt sex was the relevant category to ask about and that gender identity has no impact on which heats you should be in.

Whether anyone reads these rants or notes the pushback is almost secondary to me not wanting to be coerced into going along with the idea that everyone subscribes to the whole notion of gender identity in the first place.

Would you feel able to challenge it?

We had a very similar staff survey recently, also connecting 'gender identity' to 'fulfilling our duties under the Equality Act'. Ours also failed to ask anything about sex (or gender) or 'gender reassignment' etc. It was worse than yours in that the optinons were male/female/non-binary/don't know/prefer not to say, so there was no way of answering the survey without implicitly accepting the premise of the question i.e. that everyone had a gender identity even if they were a bit confused or shy about it.

I wrote to the HR department pointing out that they'd essentially made a statement to all or their employees that they'd misunderstood their obligations under the Equality Act and that if they were using the data for Equality Act monitoring they should ensure that the data collected matched the protected characteristics. My job is fairly relevant to this so they accepted they'd made a mistake but responded by taking out the references to the Equality Act rather than changing the questions. When the results are reported I plan to push further on exactly how we are using the data and what data we are using for Equality Act purposes. I wish I had also asked whether they had considered their duties to employees who had a protected belief that rejected gender identity in the wording of the question. Apparently it had a very low response rate.

@MARYCAT8
You need to politely and constructively point out to them that it's impossible "to monitor protected characteristics under the Equality Act" if they don't capture data relating to the actual protected characteristics.

Ok, I think we’ve got as far as:

“None (sex = female). Sex is a protected characteristic, gender identity is not. “

any advances?

user "responded by taking out the references to the Equality Act rather than changing the questions."
That made me LOL, but not in a good way!

That's exactly what I said.
Is this the nhs survey by any chance? Feels like a good time to remind whoever monitors this data that sex is a protected characteristic not gender

I would write
“gender identity is not a protected characteristic according to the Equality Act. I do not believe in gender ideology, as is my legal right (see M Forstater ruling). It is an ideology that is regressive and harmful particularly to women and children.”

Thanks all, some good advice for the survey answer.
It's not the NHS. It's not a big organisation (30-50 staff). It has taken advice from Stonewall in the past.

As for challenging the survey questions; there is a suggestions email which staff can use to feedback completely anonymously to senior leadership. We have an externally contracted HR team so I could also raise it with them. I am wary about bringing it up publically as I don't want to be singled out. Due to organisation size I work with staff at all levels including senior leadership and I am not confident I would be supported so I dont want this to affect how I am treated at work. The annual staff survey is the only time I feel confident to bring it up.

Employers already have data on sex as it's a mandatory HMRC field along with date of birth, so age and sex discrimination can be monitored.

Just write none. The survey is voluntary so they are only getting a partial impression of the workforce. It's all a bit useless and pointless, part of the expensive unproductive grievance industry that has such a negative drag.

Go back and politely point out the contradiction, in a "we're on the same team, wanting to monitor protected characteristics" way. Also point out they are introducing an element of risk into their data capture, as people might write anything in that ambiguously-labelled free text field, and it could be deeply personal. If it's not information that the employer actually has a use for (what are they actually going to do if someone types in "demi-girl"?), then they shouldn't be collecting it - GDPR. It's not fair on staff. Ask how they will keep this sensitive information safe and when they will dispose of it. That should scare them!

If it's 30-50 staff that almost makes it worse that they're asking for this free text info. Easier to trace back to an individual, and less likely (on the whole) that an organisation that size will actually be willing and able to manage that data in a meaningful and compliant way.

Yes it was a bit of a head on desk moment, but on reflection was an eloquent statement of where their priorities lay!