Census 2021 and self ID

I agree we should have clear indications of gender at birth and gender now to establish what changes have taken place in society. Anything less will not give a true picture.
However, the BBC are telling children aged 9-12 there are over 100 different genders so how will that work BBC Gender identity

Eloethan

If more men are identifying as women, wouldn't it improve services for women? However, perhaps the idea that there be two questions might work better.

I thought that at first but then I thought what about these young girls that want to be men, if they are in higher numbers then we need to know.

trisher I think this particular census may not be particularly useful, it has not been a normal year, it is the first time I believe that it has been outsourced so goodness knows how that might work out, if track and trace has ben anything to go by.
But better than nothing .

The idea that the census was until very recently any basis at all for academic research or building policies is questionable as well. Certainly past censuses (censii?) have numerous mistakes in them as anybody who has researched their family history will tell you. I suppse as the public became more literate things will have improved but as some of the discrepancies were only discovered fairly recently I'm not sure about that. If you are interested in the 1911 census when women actively campaigned against taking part The National Archives have loads of stuff blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/no-vote-no-census-the-1911-suffrage-census-protests/

If more men are identifying as women, wouldn't it improve services for women? However, perhaps the idea that there be two questions might work better.

I haven’t seen any mention of this in any news. I think Trisher’s suggestion of 2 questions, with 3 options for the second question, is a good one.

I don't think this is a matter of women being ignored. I do agree that the figures for the census will be skewed and that instead of just gathering data on sex the time has come for data on gender to be collected as well. Then we would have relaible and useful figures for indications of what health provision will be needed in the future. Perhaps the questions should be -Designated sex at birth m/f Gender in 2021 m/f/non-binary.

If they are a tiny minority then it shouldn’t skew any women’s services statistically.

I think two boxes would be interesting. One for gender assigned at birth and another for chosen gender. Then it would be apparent how big the transgender community is in proportion to the changes being made to the whole of society.

I do think there are some really big issues here. Not least for the gay community whose identities are being seriously questioned.

Would probably have been a good idea to have both, the numbers of people who are identifying as the opposite sex could be recorded as a guide to society, at the same time the medical provision that is needed in future years would not then be skewed. For instance, the provision of cervical smears and the provision of prostate cancer checks needs accurate biological information .