Email correspondence containing sources for sex and gender identity definitions

You asked

​I hereby make the following request under the Freedom of Information Act, pertaining to this document from 2019:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/articles/whatisthedifferencebetweensexandgender/2019-02-21

1. Your document states that (to quote):

The UK government defines sex as:

• referring to the biological aspects of an individual as determined by their anatomy, which is produced by their chromosomes, hormones and their interactions

• generally male or female

• something that is assigned at birth

The UK government defines gender as:

• a social construction relating to behaviours and attributes based on labels of masculinity and femininity; gender identity is a personal, internal perception of oneself and so the gender category someone identifies with may not match the sex they were assigned at birth

• where an individual may see themselves as a man, a woman, as having no gender, or as having a non-binary gender -- where people identify as somewhere on a spectrum between man and woman

Please provide all email correspondence (for example with the Government Equalities Office) containing the sources for both these statements. When redacting personal names, please redact the name only but not their work unit.

2. Please provide the job titles of the authors of this document (Laura Tolland and Joanne Evans) at the time that the document was written.

3. Please provide the job title of the person within the ONS who approved the public release of this document.

We said

Thank you for your request.

The United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) tends to use the terms 'sex' and 'gender' interchangeably. For example, generally goals and targets refer to gender, while indicators refer to sex, and the terms are often used interchangeably for disaggregated data for those indicators.

The ONS is responsible for UK SDGs reporting. The document referenced was intended to clarify for users the terms sex and gender in that reporting.

The content of the document was developed with input from the Government Equalities Office. The definitions used within the document were discussed with and agreed by the Government Equalities Office at the time of the production of the article in February 2019.

Please find below responses to your specific requests:

1. Email correspondence on the source of sections quoted (please see accompanying documents): Initially there were conversations verbally with GEO regarding definitions. These were subsequently confirmed through a follow up email and draft of the article, attached as email thread 1 and version of the document with tracked changes. Email thread 2 includes reference confirmed GEO approval.

2. Job titles: At the time that the document was produced:

• Laura Tolland's job title was 'Social Researcher'
• Joanne Evans's job title was 'Head of Analysis and Engagement' for the SDGs team

3. Approver: The job title of the person who approved publication of the document was 'Director of Public Policy and Analysis'.

Personal data of those external to ONS and Senior Executive Officer (SEO) level and below within ONS have been redacted under Section 40 (2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

We hope that you find this information useful. Please do get in touch with us at sustainabledevelopment@ons.gov.uk for any other SDG-related queries.