Statistics New Zealand has a new category for gender identity. As well as Male and Female, there can now be a new category, Gender Diverse. This covers transgender people as well as those people who feel they have aspects of both male and female. For most people, sex and gender are the same. However, for a few people, they are not the same.
Sex is a biological definition. Gender, on the other hand, is how a person feels, whether they identify as more male or more female.
New Zealand is the first in the world to have this new category but probably other countries will follow soon. Statistics New Zealand said that they only collect gender information when there is a good reason to do this. It may help agencies which provide services in society – for example health services.
Meanwhile, New Zealand passports now allow M (male), F (female) or X (unspecified). The X classification could cause problems when entering some countries so anyone wanting to use X needs to think very carefully about choosing this.
Vocabulary
• category (n) – a class or group of items
• identity (n) – who you are, your unique characteristics
• identify (v) – recognise, know yourself
• diverse (adj) – different kinds or groups (often used for different cultures)
• transgender (adj) – people who have changed their sex
• agencies (n) – organisations
• classification (n) – categories, different groups (often used in Biology)