{"id":113,"date":"2022-05-10T17:46:25","date_gmt":"2022-05-10T17:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitaldocumentation.wustl.edu\/web-design-system-documentation\/?page_id=50"},"modified":"2022-05-10T18:03:34","modified_gmt":"2022-05-10T18:03:34","slug":"gender-and-sex-on-web-forms","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/digitaldocumentation.wustl.edu\/oiss\/web-best-practices-guidelines\/forms\/gender-and-sex-on-web-forms\/","title":{"rendered":"Gender and sex on web forms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">If possible, omit the gender and\/or sex question entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ask yourself or the campus partner:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Is the information needed \u201cgender\u201d (i.e., \u201cgender\u201d refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate) or \u201csex\u201d (i.e., \u201csex\u201d refers to biological and physiological characteristics)? (These definitions are pulled from&nbsp;the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/health-topics\/gender#tab=tab_1\">WHO on gender and health<\/a>.)<\/li><li>Is data about gender and\/or sex truly necessary?<\/li><li>What information are you ultimately trying to gather? Is it gender and\/or sex in and of itself, or can you ask for the desired information more directly?<\/li><li>For instance: \u201cWhat should precede your name? Mr., Mrs., Dr., etc.\u201d; or \u201cWhat is your preferred gender pronoun?\u201d If data about gender and\/or sex is not absolutely necessary, removing the question simplifies our data output, avoids the sensitivity of the question, and makes it easier for the user to complete the form.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">If it is not possible to omit the gender and\/or sex question:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>If gender and\/or sex information is strongly desired but not critical, consider making the gender and\/or sex question optional.<\/li><li>If&nbsp;<strong>gender<\/strong>&nbsp;information is necessary but it is not necessary for the data to be sortable by gender, consider an open-ended question such as \u201cGender: _______\u201d (with an open text box).<\/li><li>Consider adding some language about why the question is being asked and how the information will be used.<\/li><li>If&nbsp;<strong>gender<\/strong>&nbsp;information is necessary and it is necessary for the data to be sortable by gender (though less desirable than an open text box), consider adding selections for \u201cdecline to state\u201d and\/or \u201cnonbinary\u201d in addition to \u201cman\u201d and \u201cwoman.\u201d<\/li><li>If&nbsp;<strong>sex&nbsp;<\/strong>information is necessary, then we recommend rewording the question to ask specifically about sex and changing the answer options to be restricted to male or female. We also recommend considering adding some language about why the question is being asked (e.g., required by the government) and what definition of sex you are using (e.g., what appears on the individual\u2019s birth certificate).<\/li><li>Sample text, as used on the Common Application: \u201cFederal guidelines mandate that we collect data on the legal sex of all applicants. Please report the sex currently listed on your birth certificate.\u201d<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If possible, omit the gender and\/or sex question entirely. Ask yourself or the campus partner: Is the information needed \u201cgender\u201d (i.e., \u201cgender\u201d refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate) or \u201csex\u201d (i.e., \u201csex\u201d refers to biological and physiological characteristics)? (These definitions are pulled from&nbsp;the&nbsp;WHO on gender [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"parent":123,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.14 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Gender and sex on web forms - OISS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gender and sex on web forms - OISS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If possible, omit the gender and\/or sex question entirely. 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