Gender of person

Status: This standard was approved as a departmental standard on July 31, 2026.

Definition

Gender refers to an individual's personal and social identity as a man, a woman or a non-binary person (i.e., a person who is neither a man nor a woman).

Gender includes the following concepts:

- gender identity, which refers to an inherent sense of being a man, a woman, or a non-binary person; and
- gender expression, which refers to how a person presents themselves as a man, a woman, or non-binary, through their body language, appearance and aesthetic choices (e.g., clothing, hairstyle and makeup), which may traditionally be associated with a particular gender.

A person's gender may differ from their sex at birth, and from what is indicated on their current identification or legal documents such as their birth certificate, passport or driver's licence.

Person refers to an individual and is the unit of analysis for most social statistics programs.

Usage

Gender is a distinct concept from sex at birth, although the two concepts are closely related. Sex at birth is primarily understood in terms of physical and biological features, such as chromosomes, genitals and hormones. In contrast, gender is a multidimensional concept that is influenced by several additional factors, including cultural and behavioural norms, as well as individual experiences and characteristics.

These concepts are related since children are most often raised as boys or girls based on their sex at birth, linking the concepts of gender identity and gender expression to sex at birth. This alignment between sex at birth and gender reflects what is generally observed in the broader population.

For most people, their gender corresponds to their sex at birth (cisgender men and cisgender women). However, for some people, their gender and sex at birth do not align. This includes transgender men and transgender women, as well as non-binary people, whose gender is neither man nor woman.

Therefore, caution should be exercised when comparing counts for the sex at birth variable with counts for the gender variable. For example, in a given population, the group of persons of female sex (sex at birth) does not necessarily correspond to the group of women (gender), although the two groups are generally very similar, given the relatively small size of the transgender and non-binary populations according to 2021 Census data.

Gender is neither fixed nor binary. It exists along a spectrum that includes men and women, as well as individuals who are neither men nor women. Some people may not use a specific term to describe their gender. A person may also, at any point in their life, recognize or express a difference between their sex at birth and their gender, which may lead them to report a different gender over time. In all cases, the most recently reported gender should be used.

The concept of gender is different from that of sexual orientation, which refers to how a person describes their sexuality.

The concept of gender varies across cultures, regions and countries, and is constantly evolving, as it is influenced by social changes.

The variable "gender of person" is used in most social statistics programs at Statistics Canada, in accordance with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat's "Policy Direction to Modernize the Government of Canada's Sex and Gender Information Practices", adopted in 2018.

The variable "sex at birth of person" can be used where information on sex at birth is needed, for example, for measuring some demographic and physical health indicators. It can also be used in conjunction with the variable "gender of person" to estimate the transgender population. These two variables can also be used, together with the variable "sexual orientation of person", to estimate the sexual and gender diverse population, which is often represented by the 2SLGBTQ+ acronym. This acronym refers to people who are Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer, as well as those who use other terms related to sexual or gender diversity.

The gender question may be asked for persons of any age, including children aged 14 or under, depending on the survey population.

Conformity to relevant internationally recognized standards

This standard is broadly compatible with the recommendations for censuses contained in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Conference of European Statisticians (UNECE-CES) "Recommendations for the 2030 Round of Population and Housing Censuses", 2025. The UNECE-CES publication (section 15.2) includes the collection of gender as a non-core topic for countries that wish to measure the gender diversity of their population in a census. It also acknowledges that some countries are moving from collecting information on sex to collecting information on gender. In these recommendations, gender is defined "as a multidimensional concept that includes psychological, social, and behavioural aspects," and gender identity as "an individual's self-perception or sense of belonging as a man/boy (masculine), woman/girl (feminine) or non-binary person (a person who is neither a man nor a woman)".

This standard is also broadly compatible with the definitions of gender published by Statistics New Zealand in the "Data standard for gender, sex, and variations of sex characteristics", 2021, and by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in the "Standard for Sex, Gender, Variations of Sex Characteristics and Sexual Orientation Variables", 2021, both national statistical agencies with which Statistics Canada shares several similarities in terms of roles and functions.

Statistics New Zealand defines gender as "a person's social and personal identity as male, female, or another gender or genders that may be non-binary." The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines it as "a social and cultural concept. It is about social and cultural differences in identity, expression and experience as a man, woman or non-binary person."

Classifications

Additional information

Reference guides

See:

Relation to previous version

  • Gender of person July 31, 2026 to current

    The wording of the definition of gender has been slightly modified. The terms "male" and "female" have been replaced with the gender-related terms "man" and "woman", to be consistent with changes to the gender question options. A classification variant of gender with two categories has been added. The name of the Classification of gender diversity status has changed since the previous version.

  • Gender of person October 01, 2021 to July 30, 2026

    This departmental standard replaces the recommended standard 'Gender of person'. The wording of the definition of gender has been modified, and certain category names and definitions in the classifications have been updated. The name of the 'Classification of cisgender, transgender and non-binary' has changed since the previous standard.

  • Gender of person January 25, 2018 to September 30, 2021

    This was the recommended standard from January 25, 2018 to September 30, 2021.

Date modified: