Review of 2021 Census Topics

I am a trans-woman and the last census effectively rendered me invisible along with the rest of my community by making a non binary gender response difficult to enter. This negatively impacts on my community’s visibility and planning to meet my community’s needs. Birth sex questions and current gender questions need to be included not only to accurately gauge how many trans-people are in Australia but also to raise people’s awareness that a non-binary response is possible and legally sanctioned.

The last census made entering a non-binary gender difficult which caused many people in my community to simply enter a binary response of either male or female. This rendered the trans-and gender diverse community invisible or, have they been in same-sex relationships, made them appear to be part of the LGB Section of the gay community rather than T as well.

This impacts on organisations’ ability to plan for and meet the needs of the gender diverse community since there is limited data on how many trans-and gender diverse people there are. There is also limited data available on the distribution of trans and gender diverse people according to area. This data is required to support policy development, planning and or monitoring of trans-and gender Diverse demographics. It is also required for legislative reform since data can indicate need. It is also required for research purposes to accurately predict trends and trans-and gender diverse demographics.

Furthermore a little addressed topic is ageing amongst trans-and gender diverse people because my community has specific needs when it comes to ageing and can experience unintentional systemic discrimination at their end of life care.

The last point I wish to make about data collection is that making a non-binary response the exception rather than the rule reinforces community beliefs that are non-binary gender response is an exception rather than a rule. Including questions about birth sex and current gender will draw the wider community’s attention to the possibility that there is something other than male or female. Just by that simple fact my community’s profile will be raised and will benefit from a positive step towards inclusion.

In summary the first step towards addressing a communities needs is identifying that that community exists. The Australian bureau of statistics census must be changed to make it as easy as possible for trans-and gender diverse people to identify themselves confidentially for research purposes and data collection if our living conditions are to improve.

Data is needed for the trans-and gender diverse community because it is a small population group without any accurate data collected on its size or extent. This data is vital to planning for the needs of the trans-and gender diverse community or simply to raising its profile by getting an accurate picture of how many trans and gender diverse Australians there are. The recent debate on marriage quality highlighted the usefulness of ignorance about trans-and gender diverse people and communities to interested groups opposed to marriage equality. There was no data with which to rebut many hateful arguments.

The increasing incidence of trans-people and gender diverse people varying ages but above all amongst children makes it a matter of national importance to collect data on gender. This will serve to inform medical and legislative organisations in the treatment of the same and will simultaneously make it more difficult for ignorant oppositional arguments to thrive.

Given the high rates of suicide amongst trans-and gender diverse people this is quite literally a life and death matter. The high rates of suicide, depression and other mental health issues have been shown to be resultant of the treatment of trans-and gender diverse people by the cis-gendered community. Again visibility equals survival for trans-and gender diverse communities. Visibility in the census means that individual trans-and gender diverse people do not have to carry the burden of visibility; all trans-and gender diverse people can be safely visible.

Collecting data on birth sex is a simple process already included in the census. Additional collection of data on gender is a similar process widely used throughout the census and can be a drop box or simply more options on a form. The ability to record trans andgender diverse people already exists it just needs to be extended to the entire population instead of simply those who request it. It will be clear and easy for respondents to understand and answer since each respondent will clearly know their birth sex and current gender status .

Data collection on birth sex and current gender is now the norm on many social platforms which already include multiple options. People can still choose to conceal their current gender status and answer binary however the inclusion of more options is not likely to offend since the Australian community is showing itself increasingly accepting of diversity.

Furthermore not including more gender options to reflect reality could be argued to disadvantage the trans-and gender diverse community systemically by rendering us invisible and compromising planning for our needs. Some might argue this to be a breach of antidiscrimination law based on gender.

Australian bureau of statistics already has the capacity to collect information on births sex and current gender. I am unable to comment on the costs to the ABS as I do not have sufficient information however I believe that whatever the costs are they will be greatly outweighed by the benefit to a small community of Australians experiencing Extreme levels of discrimination and harassment. Collecting data on the trans-and gender diverse community is urgently required to inform regulating organisations on how to support us.

There have always been trans-and gender diverse people amongst us. This is our first opportunity for the Australian bureau of statistics to accurately collect data on how many of us there are and where we live. Trans-and gender diverse people will continue to exist into the future and therefore data collection will remain as relevant as binary gender data collection has been in the past given our particular needs.

There is limited data available about the gender and trans-community. Currently overseas data collection remains a important data source for Australians. Also individual students conducting research in Australian universities frequently approach the trans-community to obtain data which could be obtained from The Australian bureau of statistics were such data collected. The Australian bureau of statistics census will be the first systematic attempt at a national snapshot of the gender and trans-community in Australia. There is quite simply no other irrefutable and reliable source.

My submission was written on the fly and as such may have omissions. I would be more than happy to be contacted by the Australian bureau statistics to answer questions or to be requested to prepare a more complete submission with references. Also I would not be surprised were there to be limited submissions on the topic of sex and gender. This should not detract from its importance. My community has always been disadvantaged by its apparent minority status but although our voice maybe feeble our message is important; please hear it. Thank you for the opportunity of making the submission to you. I look forward to hearing from you should you have any further questions or seek any additional submission.