Proposed data collection approach and content for the census

The Women’s Rights Party of New Zealand Aotearoa was formed in 2023 to focus on issues that directly impact on women and girls. We recognise that such interests are wide ranging, including women’s sex-based rights, women’s healthcare, our children’s education, and recognition of women’s contributions to society.

We welcome the opportunity to provide a submission on the proposed data collection approach and content for the census. Question 5 is a key question for our Council, regional committees, and members and therefore we are making a submission purely on this question.

1. We note the serious problems that the conflation of sex and gender in the last census has caused for the UK Government. We hope that clarifying clear and accurate definitions of sex and gender without using ideological language is possible in New Zealand to avoid the same costly mistake and loss of meaningful data.
2. The Plain Language Act 2022 requires clear, concise, and well organised communication with the aim of improving the effectiveness and accountability of the public service.¹ Core principles of data collection include the need for a clear purpose, public accountability, transparency, and public value. Conflating sex and gender and using the language of ideology will cause problems in New Zealand and Stats NZ needs to seriously consider its accountability and public value issues.
3. Belief in a gender identity is not shared across populations or within populations and being able to differentiate between those who do not claim a gender identity or believe in gender identity, and those who do is also important. As some people may be reluctant to disclose their sex, gender identity, or no gender identity, a thorough explanation about why this data is important and information about confidentiality, data processes and use of data needs to be explained clearly in all information documents and communication produced by Stats NZ.
4. It is important to women in particular, that data collected about them does not use ideological language such as “cisgender” – words which we reject – and that women are able to be counted as stating they do not have a gender identity and object to ideological language.
5. Sex is a biological and is a constant category across time – it is not possible to change sex. Humans have two distinct sexes – females have ovaries and produce large gametes (eggs), while males have testes and produce small gametes (sperm). Stats NZ previously suggested that sex can change over the course of a lifetime and the Women’s Rights Party considers that Stats NZ should address the misinformation it disseminated by making it clear that people cannot ever change their sex.
6. We are concerned about women’s health care needs and would like to see the sexed differences in health care recognised for the safety of all populations. Data on sex should always be prioritised over gender identity. Sex influences health across the whole life span and there are sexed differences in a range of markers. These include blood test results, disease presentations such as heart attack symptoms, response to prescribed medication, including amounts of medication and appropriate treatments. Accurate collection of sex is the primary concern for health purposes.
7. The Women’s Rights Party recognises that the collection of data also needs to include accurate data about people of both sexes who claim gender identities rather than their natal sex. However, importantly there are good reasons why people who claim a gender identity also need to disclose their birth sex marker and in doing so should be reassured of confidentiality and the valid reasons for this data.
8. A recent review of census data in the UK found that people with diverse gender identities were not receiving the care they needed because of the conflation of sex and gender identity – this made it impossible to track outcomes of distinct groups including those claiming a gender identity.²
9. We are concerned to note that Stats NZ continues to use intersex as a term rather than DSD (differences in sexual development), which is also an umbrella term with contested conditions, and implies that this can be a claimed ‘identity’ which it is not – DSD is also not a sexuality – it is a congenital medical condition. People who have a DSD (0.018% of births – fewer than 2 in 10,000³) are either male or female and they are not a third sex. There are only two sexes. Stats NZ needs to urgently clarify this.
10. The Women’s Rights Party is concerned that data about young people who detransition does not appear to be collected or available in New Zealand. Identifying the number of transitioned individuals who have later made the decision to detransition should be considered as this information would contribute to better supporting these people. Pathways for transition are available, but no obvious support for detransitioners seems to be offered. Data collection would inform the development of services. If Stats NZ does not have knowledge about the growing number of detransitioners, we respectfully suggest investigation of the website detrans.ai⁴.

11.1 Sex does not have an identity. It is a biological category.

11.2 The use of the word “gender” in the Stats NZ consultation document is flawed and confusing. Gender is an imprecise concept that refers to sex-based stereotypes and social expectations – what is considered feminine and masculine. Gender identity and expression refer to the identification with, and expression of these stereotypes.

11.3 What is needed in data is information about sex-based discrimination in education, employment, and income. Sex-based data on violence is also necessary as is accurate sex-based data about criminality, and rates of offending.

11.4 To improve information collection and consequently minority group services, it is important to collect data about lesbian, gay and bisexual people separately to those who claim a gender identity.

11.5 Lesbian, gay, or bisexual are sexual orientations and there is no actual “rainbow population”. This is termed ‘forced teaming’ which means that same-sex attracted people (LGB) have distinct interests and needs that are fundamentally different from those who identify as TQ+, whose focus is on gender identity and there is growing resentment from many LGB people about the loss of this distinction.

11.6 LGB Alliance Groups have been formed to support LGB people who have been facing discriminations, exclusions, violence, and threats of violence, under the “LGBTIQ+” rights umbrella⁵.

11.7 The LGB Alliance Australia report to the United Nations also outlines other issues for LGB people who have lost the rights they have long fought for. The Lost Lesbian Spaces Project details what the lesbian community in Victoria has lost in terms of single-sex spaces which has been significant.

“There are now only two organisations for lesbian women exclusively in Victoria while over 100 spaces/events and organisations have either been subsumed into compulsory mixed-sex LGBTIQ+ space/events/organisations or have disappeared entirely.⁶”

The Lesbian Action for Visibility in Aotearoa (LAVA) challenge to the group’s exclusion by Wellington Pride Festival in 2021 highlights the tension within the “Rainbow community”.⁷ The case was recently heard by the Human Rights Review Tribunal in Wellington and hinges on the right of lesbians to hold political beliefs based on sex.

The collection of accurate data by Stats NZ could contribute to safeguarding rights of all populations and avoiding growing conflict. The Women’s Rights Party hopes that Stats NZ fully understands the role that accurate data collection can play in meeting the sex-based rights of women and LGB people.

Accurate census data is critically important and an authoritative, complete, and robust national dataset is essential. Anything that weakens census validity, reliability and usability is not acceptable for a national collection of census data, which should be of the highest quality and of an irreproachable standard.

Continuing to conflate sex and gender, using ideological language, and the mission of accurate definitions will ultimately cause damage for all populations in New Zealand, including minority populations. The meaning of sex needs to be stable in survey data. We also respectfully suggest the value in examination of the Review of data, statistics and research on sex and gender⁸ which was commissioned by the UK Government in February 2024 after flawed questions in the 2021 census about gender identity.⁹

The Women’s Rights Party is available for further discussion of the points we have made and we would welcome a meeting to discuss the issues. We are grateful for the opportunity to make this submission.