Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, expressions and identities of girls, women, boys, men and gender diverse people. Gender is not confined to a binary, male or female, response option.
Gender may refer to the gender of a person or the gender which a person expresses as the person's preferred gender or with which the person identifies and includes transgender and a gender other than those of male and female. This includes individuals who see themselves as having no gender.
The gender which a person identifies with may not match their sex recorded at birth. Gender may be a personal perception of oneself. In contrast, sex at birth is biologically determined.
Gender is a social, psychological and cultural construct and it is developed in the process of socialisation.
This harmonised standard presents guidance on how gender can be defined, measured and presented in a more consistent manner.
Data on gender is important to accurately represent the diversity of our population. This information is crucial in measuring certain health and demographic indicators. The combination of questions on sex and gender allows all persons the opportunity to accurately record themselves, while facilitating historical comparability for demographic data.
Many data collections require information on the gender of individuals. When collecting data on this topic, the following question is recommended:
What is your gender?
The standard question on this topic is designed to collect information, for use in the majority of surveys or data collections. However, it is not intended to replace questions already in use for specialist surveys where more detailed analysis is required.
The terms gender and sex are often used interchangeably. Gender can be used as another term for sex where binary options are required, as set out in the CSO Data Standard for Sex. Gender may also be used providing the below standard response options, which are not confined to a binary, male or female, categorisation.
The use of the standard question for gender [What is your gender?] may be used in conjunction with the alternative question for sex [What was your sex at birth?] to allow for the identification of all gendered populations.
The following list of response options represents the basic level of detail that the CSO recommends should be gathered in data collection.
| Standard Response Options and Codes for Gender | |
| 10 | Man or boy |
| 20 | Woman or girl |
| 30 | Or please specify |
| 40 | Prefer not to say |
The standard response options and standard reference classification provided are based on recommended categories derived by the Census Advisory Group for the 2024 Census Pilot.
| Description of Standard Response Options of Gender | |
| Man or boy | An individual’s internal sense of being male. |
| Woman or girl | An individual’s internal sense of being female. |
| Or please specify | Or please specify provides respondents with an open category to use where other category options are not reflective. This category includes non-binary persons. This could include individuals who see themselves as having no gender. |
The standard reference classification for gender will be constructed based on responses received through the use of the standard question and standard response options. The CSO will explore user requirements in the development of the standard reference classification for gender. For further clarifications, please consult classifications@cso.ie
| Concept name | Gender |
| Variable name | GENDER_CSO |
| Format type | Character code |
| Guideline Version | 1.0 |
| Guideline Release date | 18 October 2024 |
| Valid to | 18 April 2026 |
| Owner | Central Statistics Office (CSO) Classification Standardisation Team |
| Audience | Policy makers, system developers and producers or users of statistics |
| Contact | classifications@cso.ie |
This data standard will be regularly reviewed and updated to ensure it remains current and aligned with any changes in regulations or best practices. The validation period for this standard is 18 months.
We are always interested in hearing from users so that we can develop our work.