Gender neutral declarations

The UK appeal court outcome on gender neutral passports might have some potentially interesting practical implications for education providers. Do you, for example, allow staff to declare that they identify as gender-neutral on EDI monitoring forms? Do your software systems permit this recording? What about students? Food for thought over the festive holiday.

Forcing non-binary applicants to apply for either male or female passports is unlawful, a court of appeal has been told. Opening a challenge to the Home Office’s current refusal to provide gender -neutral, or ‘X’ passports to UK citizens is a breach of their human rights. The current passport system says that applicants must declare that they are either male or female.

The legal challenge has been brought by Christie Elan-Cane, who has campaigned on the issue for many years and given evidence to parliament about transgender equality. Up to 1% of the population, about 630,000 people, may not identify as male or female. Ten countries including Australia, Canada, Pakistan and Germany have an alternative category to male and female for passports. A number of US states including New Jersey and Oregon, issue gender-neutral driving licences. Standards for machine-readable passports allow for individuals to indicate M, F or X, with X standing for unspecified. More than 80 MPs have signed a motion calling on the Passport Office to make X passports available to those who do not identify as either male or female.

Lawyers for Elan-Cane will also argue that the government ‘s current policy is inconsistent as border control officers allow holders of foreign X passports to enter the country at airports and ports.

Speaking before the hearing, Elan-Cane said:

‘it is unacceptable that someone who defines as neither male or female is forced to declare an inappropriate gender in order to obtain a passport.’

The outcome of the appeal has some potentially interesting implications for education providers. For example, do you permit students to opt for a gender-neutral category on application and enrolment forms? What about staff EDI forms as part of the recruitment and selection process? Are your software systems for recording and reporting on EDI compatible with this approach? Should you update your processes and systems regardless of the outcome of this Appeal? Food for thought over the festive holiday.