The New York times recently reported that Californians who don’t identify themselves as male or female will soon be able to get a gender-neutral birth certificate. The new law, S.B. 179, which goes into effect in 2018, "provides nonbinary and intersex people with the ability to request a new birth certificate with a third, nonbinary category."
California is the first state to offer this option.
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| Photo by Dmitri Popov on Unsplash |
For reporting purposes, employers tend to "over-ask" for demographic data such as age, gender and ethnicity. Particularly when asked for something related to work, the question of gender with seemingly simple "female" and "male" options can pose a challenge for transgender people, particularly those that are in the process of or are considering gender transition genders. Some may be concerned about how that data may be used or compared to personal records, or they may feel limited by the "female" or "male" options. When evaluating whether to ask employees about gender on non-essential forms, employers should consider:
- What is the business rationale for asking about gender on the particular form?
- How does asking for the data relate to your organization's overall diversity strategy?
- How will that data be used, protected and reported? What legal restrictions might there be on collection or storage of demographic data, in the U.S. or globally?
If the data is not essential, consider removing the question, make sure the question is clearly optional (particularly for online forms) or allow people to self-identify by asking an open-ended question.
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