Report to the Minister of Statistics: Understanding gender
and sexuality through the Census
Date:
24 November 2017
Priority:
Medium
Security level:
In confidence
File number:
MM1746
Contact details
Name
Position
Telephone
First
contact
Jarrod Williams
Private Secretary
[redacted under
[redacted under
to the Minister of
section
section
Statistics
9(2)(g)(ii)]
9(2)(g)(ii)]
Denise
General Manager -
[redacted under
[redacted under
McGregor
2018 Census
section
section
9(2)(g)(ii)]
9(2)(g)(ii)]
Purpose
You have requested further information on why the next census will not include
questions to cover sexual orientation, gender identity, or an intersex option for the
biological sex question, and how Stats NZ intends to capture such information.
No action is required of you in relation to this briefing, however you may wish to
share the information in it with individuals or groups who want to know more about
the content decisions.
Denise McGregor
Hon James Shaw
General Manager - 2018 Census
Minister of Statistics Date:
Stats NZ: data collection for sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation
1. Stats NZ has been working for a number of years on how to enhance collection of
data for the topics of sex, gender identify and sexual orientation.
2. Stats NZ work has focussed on developing standards, testing topics for the 2018
Census, and investigating how these topics can be incorporated into our wider
social statistics programme.
3. A standard for gender identity was developed in 2015, with more information
available online
(www.stats.govt.nz/tools_and_services/media-centre/media-
releases-2015/gender-identity-17-july-15.aspx).
2018 Census Content decisions were made earlier this year
4. On 31 July 2017, the Government Statistician released the final decision about
the content for the 2018 Census. A number of potential new topics were
researched, developed and tested over a three year period. These included:
Topic
Included in the Excluded
from To be collected
2018 Census
the 2018 Census via
another
method or Stats
NZ survey
Intersex addition to the current
▲
biological
sex
question
(‘third’
category)
Sexual orientation
▲
Gender identity
▲
The decisions followed extensive consultation
5. The consultation began in late 2014, and included face to face seminars and
workshops in five centres, a formal submission process, and online engagement
using the Loomio platform.
6. During consultation, we received submissions from the following stakeholders:
NZ AIDS Foundation
Family Planning
Gay Men’s Sexual Health Research Group (University of Auckland)
Rainbow Youth
Ara Taiohi
Otago University (group submission led by Melanie Beres & Gareth
Terharne)
Southland District Council
7. Meetings were also held with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Social
Development and the Human Rights Commission.
The decisions were made on statistical grounds
8. Following both cognitive and public testing in 2016 and early 2017, we were
unable to guarantee that the quality of the information we could gather on these
topics would meet user needs at this stage. This conclusion was based on the
results and analysis of our testing. The existing topic (sex) was retained with
minimal change, and the other topics (listed above) were not added.
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9. The decision to not include a third category for the sex topic reflects the challenge
that statistical agencies all over the world are facing, where providing an
alternative to a binary sex question (male / female) is proving difficult to design,
given the need to guarantee the quality and comparability of the information
captured. To date, no statistical agency has introduced a third option for biological
sex in their census.
Stats NZ will endeavour to find ways to responsibly collect the
information missed by these decisions
10. Although the 2018 Census will not include a third sex category, Stats NZ is
developing an alternative way to capture intersex population information in the
2018 Census and will work with representative groups in the lead up to the census
to ensure the intersex population of New Zealand is able to answer this question
accurately. At a minimum this will involve providing those who wish to identify as
intersex with a paper form on which they can mark both ‘male’ and ‘female’.
General Social Survey
11. The General Social Survey (GSS) provides information on the well-being of New
Zealanders aged 15 years and over. It covers a wide range of social and economic
outcomes and shows how people are faring. In particular the survey provides a
view of how well-being outcomes are distributed across different groups within the
New Zealand population. The 2018 GSS will begin in April 2018 and takes a year
to complete.
12. It was agreed that the GSS will include a question on sexual orientation. This
question will be based on the question used by the UK Office of National Statistics
and used in the Census testing process.
13. The results from the GSS will be used to better understand data collection for this
topic and inform a wider piece of work to include this topic in all of our social
surveys.
Next steps
14. In addition to the inclusion of sexual orientation as a topic in the GSS, Stats NZ
will continue working on the best ways to collect data across this range of topics
and create outputs that meet users’ needs. Officials will come back with further
advice once the GSS has gone into the field in April 2018.
15. Officials will work to develop a new sexual identity standard, and will seek
feedback through a public consultation process following the 2018 Census.
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