Classification of gender

Usage

The categories of the 'Classification of gender' are derived using the standardized gender question.

Definitions provided in this classification refer to the terms 'male' and 'female' for gender since they are used in the standardized gender question. However, the category names use the terms 'man' and 'woman' to refer to 'male gender' and 'female gender'.

Depending on the statistical program, the survey population may include children. In such instances, the terms 'boy' and 'girl' are preferred to 'man' and 'woman' when referring to children.

Information on gender may be based on self-reported data or reported by proxy depending on the statistical program. Therefore, the expression 'reported gender' is used in these definitions.

The umbrella term 'non-binary' is increasingly used to refer to people who would describe their gender as neither exclusively male or female nor man or woman, as mentioned in the "In-Depth Review of Measuring Gender Identity" (2019) conducted by Statistics Canada and the United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics. However, individuals who fall under the category of non-binary gender within this classification do not necessarily use this label to describe their gender identity.

In English, the term 'another gender', translated as 'un autre genre' in French, may be used. However, it is preferable to refer to the umbrella term 'non binaire' in French. The term 'un autre genre' can be confusing, as the term 'genre' has multiple meanings in French.

Binary genders include both cisgender (cis) and transgender (trans) men and women whose reported gender is exclusively male or female.

Given that the non-binary population is a small population, when data for the third category in this classification cannot be published in order to protect the confidentiality of responses provided by the Canadian population, people in this category are distributed in the first two categories.