In addition to “male” or “female”, OUSA is advocating for Statistics New Zealand (Stats NZ) to include “another gender” and “no gender” when listing genders on census documents. They have submitted these suggestions to the Sex and Gender Identity Statistical Standards Review.
Besides being a considerate move for folks who may not abide by binary standards, this new option would buff the reliability of surveys taken by the Government. OUSA Welfare and Equity Representative, Michaela Waite-Harvey, said “not only does this improve the self-determination and dignity of people who have historically been marginalised but also ensures that our statistics are a true reflection of New Zealand and can improve many sectors of society like the census which has a direct impact on our democratic processes.”
“Sex data tends to collect a person’s assigned sex at birth, which has a wide degree of ambiguity with respect to their body features and chromosomes, as reflected by a research into biological sex markers, and as such, is not guaranteed to be an accurate representation of a person with respect to their identity or their body,” reads the OUSA submission
The literal only downside of such a move by the Government may include increasing the printing budget for these surveys to now include the words “no gender, another gender”, and increasing the amount of space on the page taken up by gender-identity questions.