Source · Select Committees · Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 22
22
Not Addressed
Paragraph: 178
The conflation of the terms sex and gender in both the Gender Recognition Act and...
Recommendation
The conflation of the terms sex and gender in both the Gender Recognition Act and Equality Act has led to widespread confusion and disagreement. We welcome the Equality and Human Rights Commission guidance on sex and gender reassignment and believe it is clear in explaining the rights of those who have acquired a GRC in relation to the protected characteristics in the Equality Act. However, there is more work to be done. The GEO should work to update the language in both acts in relation to sex and gender, ensuring consistency in the definitions used. It should be clear when an Act is referring to natal sex, legal sex and gender. The Government should also aim to update all official documents that conflate the terms sex and gender.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government reiterated its view that the position set out in September 2020 is appropriate and that GRA evidential requirements ensure a robust legal gender recognition process, but did not address the recommendation on updating language in acts and official documents.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
178
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government · verbatim extract
Not Addressed
The appropriate collection and use of sex and gender statistics can help government deliver its services. The Government is working with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Government Statistical Service (GSS) who have issued guidance on the collection of data on sex and gender. Draft harmonised standards on gender identity data collection were also produced by GSS in June 2020. ONS and GSS are considering next steps on how to finalise these standards and guidance. The Government Equalities Office continues to work with all relevant stakeholders in this space. We recommend that stakeholders adhere to the recommendations from the National Statistician’s Inclusive Data Taskforce, which states that ‘regularly collected (and also legally protected in England, Wales and Scotland) characteristics such as sex, ethnic group and disability status should continue to be comprehensively and appropriately recorded’. We have no plans to amend either the Equality Act 2010 or the Gender Recognition Act 2004. In terms of future legislative drafting, the Committee will wish to note that last year the Government committed to reviewing its approach to drafting legislation on subjects which prompt questions around language relating to sex and gender. As in the case of the Ministerial and other Maternity Allowances Act 2021, the most obvious area is legislation relating to pregnancy or childbirth, but there will, no doubt, be other related subjects where similar issues arise. Work on reviewing the approach will consider those as appropriate, as well as debates in both Houses arising from the passage of the 2021 Act and practices adopted in other English language legislatures. In relation to wider documentation, references to sex and gender have developed over the years, and are often used in a context-specific way. In some contexts, for example much international and multilateral work, both terms can be and are used in relation to the rights of women and girls. Sometimes it would not be material to insist on a technical differentiation. Against this backdrop, we do not consider that it is necessary or proportionate to seek to revise all official documentation in this way.
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