Scottish Government position on genders: FOI release
- Published
- 16 January 2025
- Directorate
- Equality, Inclusion and Human Rights Directorate
- Topic
- Equality and rights, Public sector
- FOI reference
- FOI/202400439310
- Date received
- 5 November 2024
- Date responded
- 2 December 2024
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Information requested
The following information:
"1. Does the Scottish Government now have an official definition of gender? If so, could you please provide it.
2. Is it the Scottish Government's position that there are only two genders?
3. Is it the Scottish Government's position that male and female are genders?
4. Given that the Scottish Government's definition of sex also refers to male and female, is it the Scottish Government's position that gender means the same as sex?
5. If this is not the case, could the Scottish Government please provide an explanation of its position on the difference between sex and gender.
6. If there are only male and female genders, as stated by the Minister for Equalities, what is the purpose of the Scottish Government's non-binary gender action plan?"
Response
To answer questions 1-3, all of the information you have requested is publicly available. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you, however to provide some context here is a link to information on how the Scottish Government interprets definitions of sex and gender: National Indicators by sex and gender | National Performance Framework.
To answer question 4 and 5 “Gender” and “Sex” are often used interchangeably. While “sex” is the protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010, the 2010 Act also refers to the “gender pay gap”. In another area, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 refers to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”. Therefore, ‘gender equality’ is widely accepted to refer to improving outcomes for women and girls. The Thematic Gender Review of the National Performance Framework, the Gender Equality Index 2020 and 2023, and activity around tackling Gender Pay Gaps, amongst other work, have been developed in that light.
To answer question 6, in law, including under the Equality Act 2010, people are either male or female. It is also a fact that trans and non-binary people exist, as evidenced by the results of Scotland’s 2022 Census which found that 19,990 people were trans, or had a trans history, and almost half (45.2%) of trans people identify as ‘non-binary’.
We want to improve equality and bring about real, positive and lasting change to the lives of these nonbinary people which is why it is important that the actions in this plan are realised.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Correspondence Unit
Email: contactus@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
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