Urgent action required!
On Sunday Woman’s Place UK hosted a webinar about the vital importance of accurately recording sex in next year’s census. Selina Todd chaired the discussion and the contributors were Alice Sullivan, Lisa MacKenzie and Jane Clare Jones.
You can watch a recording of that discussion here and access the information and links provided here.
The first UK census was taken in 1801 and a census has been taken every decade since then. The information obtained by a census not only provides an overview of the population, but it is also used by the government in developing policy, planning and running public services and allocating resources. It is, therefore, essential that the data provided is accurate.
The UK census has always collected data on the sex of the participants. Sex-disaggregated data is crucial in assessing and resolving the discrimination and issues women experience due to their sex.
However, the 2021 census may be the first one to disregard this vital category. The census authority, the Office for National Statistics, may allow respondents to answer the question about sex according to ‘gender identity’ instead.
The census guidelines proposed by the ONS state:
This could mean that males who ‘identify as women’ are recorded on the census as being female, skewing all the data relating specifically to female lives.
Sex is a vital demographic variable as it affects almost every aspect of our lives. This is especially true for women; inequalities in healthcare, employment and rates of pay, for example, are all directly affected by our female sex.
If implemented, the ONS recommendations will mean that sex becomes a non-mandatory field in the 2021 census. Consequently, the data collated will negate any equal opportunities monitoring and the information on which the government relies for policymaking and funding allocation etc will be fundamentally flawed.
For example, data relating to the sex pay gap could be obscured by including trans-identified males in the female categories.
In short, conflating sex and gender means women will lose out. Again.
We need to take action!
We must ensure that the 2021 census records accurate, sex-specific data.
Contact the Office for National Statistics.
Contact Liz Truss, Minister for Women and Equalities.
Contact your own MP.
You can use the model letter created by WPUK for all three.
And spread the word on social media using the hashtags #SexMatters and #WomenCountSoCountWomen
Please make your voices heard. We cannot fight sexism if we cannot name our sex.
Long time reader, first time commenter here ;) Please remember to keep signing the petition in solidarity with those who defended JK Rowling's right to say "sex is real" without her receiving threats of rape and death. https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/in-solidarity-with-jk-rowling
I took a month's subscription just so I could say thank you to Graham for defending women's sex based human rights. I don't often thank men for just doing the right thing, but your case is a bit unusual. You have copped a huge amount of personal abuse and damage to your career and life because you said "sex is real and let's let women keep the human rights they have fought so hard for". I was one of those who contributed a small amount to your cause and I was delighted to see it reach its goal in just a few days. You are a good, and decent human being. Thank you, on behalf of all women for being in our corner.