Information on sex has become an unmet information need in Australian censuses thanks to the introduction of the ‘Non-binary sex’ answer in the 2021 census — and it will become even more so if the ABS removes the compulsory, binary category for sex recorded or observed at birth.
Sex as properly described and understood must be retained as a meaningful category if we are to gain an accurate understanding of and make good policy on fertility rates; maternal death rates; women’s health; maternal health; male violence against women and girls; education and literacy rates; labour force participation rates; income; migration trends; family composition; employment patterns; life expectancy and mortality rates; poverty rates; public goods information relating to matters such as housing affordability; public social spending rates relating to matters such as health, poverty, and unemployment, amongst other things.
For future censuses, WAAC urges the ABS to actively resist any pressure to replace the category of ‘sex’ as acknowledged and understood as an immutable biological reality in favour of the idea that one is born into with ‘gender’, ‘gender identity’ or similar.