The @ONS have decided that it's no longer possible to ask people simply what their sex is, even though this has been asked in every census since forever. Women have used the resulting data to prove that we face ongoing and widespread discrimination, at large and small scales 1/10

The people making decisions about the census, however, have been persuaded that some (unknown number of) people won't respond to the census at all if they have to answer this very basic factual question. 2/10
They have therefore changed the guidance so that an unknown number of people are advised to answer it according to their 'official documents' - which may contradict each other. Since it's easily possible to change the sex marker on a passport or driving licence 3/10
just by asking for it to be changed, this guidance effectively means that (an unknown number of) people unhappy about their biological sex are advised to answer the sex question however they choose. 4/10
The most immediately damaging impact of this decision will be on trans people. It means the opportunity to gather robust data from the new gender identity question in the same census is lost. We will not be able to tell how many trans people are male or female. 5/10
Authorities seeking a basis on which to plan, for example, health care for trans people, won't have the data they need. But the impact on women is more profound. This is the result of a decades-long effort to delegitimise sex as a relevant factor in social policy. 6/10
Read this report, and its appendix, to understand how this was done https://t.co/1rsEXeIAik
Without sex as a category, how can we see sexism? If sex is unimportant, why would domestic violence, rape, or abortion be women's issues? 7/10
And this is how we have local government officials making tick-box decisions that remove funding from experienced, trusted, women's organisations like @riseuk. Women in Brighton who've relied on this service over years are in bits today because women's expertise isn't valued 8/10
Services like @riseuk were created by women, for women. They should not be subject to some technocratic process of switching to a new provider https://t.co/iriLMWLSDH
9/10
Whose interests does it serve to pretend we don't know what sex we are? Not those of women, not lesbians & gay men, and not trans people either. If you take away the means to analyse our oppression, you make it harder to resist. #WomenCountSoCountWomen
10/10
Further thoughts on this:
https://t.co/zf1FXS8pHZ

More from Society

This is a piece I've been thinking about for a long time. One of the most dominant policy ideas in Washington is that policy should, always and everywhere, move parents into paid labor. But what if that's wrong?

My reporting here convinced me that there's no large effect in either direction on labor force participation from child allowances. Canada has a bigger one than either Romney or Biden are considering, and more labor force participation among women.

But what if that wasn't true?

Forcing parents into low-wage, often exploitative, jobs by threatening them and their children with poverty may be counted as a success by some policymakers, but it’s a sign of a society that doesn’t value the most essential forms of labor.

The problem is in the very language we use. If I left my job as a New York Times columnist to care for my 2-year-old son, I’d be described as leaving the labor force. But as much as I adore him, there is no doubt I’d be working harder. I wouldn't have stopped working!

I tried to render conservative objections here fairly. I appreciate that @swinshi talked with me, and I'm sorry I couldn't include everything he said. I'll say I believe I used his strongest arguments, not more speculative ones, in the piece.

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