Scottish parents completing census forms are being advised they can assign the sex of their children, including toddlers, according to “what describes them better”.
After losing a legal fight to require adults completing the survey tomorrow to disclose their biological sex rather than their self-defined gender, campaigners have reacted angrily to the news that the sex recorded for young dependents does not have to match official records such as their birth certificate.
Critics claim that the approach seriously harms the quality of data collected and may make it more difficult to plan services, including healthcare.
The feminist campaign group Fair Play for Women (FPFW) called the latest advice to parents an example of where the Scottish government’s obsession with self-identification takes us.
In an online helpline conversation with a Scotland’s Census 2022 agent, one parent asked for advice because they were raising their toddler to be “gender neutral and don’t want to assign a sex to them because they are not showing a strong identification with being a boy or a girl at the moment”.
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At first, the parent was told that they “could use the sex registered on their official documents, such as passport or birth certificate”. The parent asked: “But we don’t have to if it doesn’t seem right for them and we think the other describes them better?”
The agent, after looking into the issue further, replied: “Correct, go with what you feel describes them better.”
National Records of Scotland said of the census sex question: “If you are answering for someone else, where possible you should ask them how they want to answer. If they are away, select the answer you think they would choose. You do not need to know or ask whether they have a gender recognition certificate.”
Meghan Gallacher, the Scottish Conservative MSP, voiced concern at the development. She said: “It is understandable that parents are concerned about this advice being given out in relation to the census.
“This could potentially put many parents in a situation where they feel uncomfortable. It is not the sort of conversation they will want to have with their children at such a young age . . . The census is vital for finding out the characteristics of the nation but advice like this could put some individuals off filling it in.”
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Dr Nicola Williams, FPFW director, said that because the data collected for sex in the census can be based on self-ID, it meant some men in Scotland would be counted as female and boys as girls, and vice versa.
In the rest of the UK the 2021 census asks a binary choice sex question with the only possible answers being “male” or “female” after a successful legal challenge by FPFW. The group recently lost a similar legal challenge to the Scottish government’s advice on the census allowing people to self-identify their gender.
Williams maintains that important data will be lost “never to be regained or disentangled later”, adding: “Equality monitoring and the ability of public bodies to fulfil their obligations to uphold fairness for all will be seriously impeded.”
The Equality Network, which supports the census wording, was approached for comment.
