Redefining what gender means in the insurance industry
The concept of gender spans across a spectrum. And it goes way beyond identifying as strictly male or female. The fact that gender has become more nuanced means we have to be respectful of the fact that people now have the opportunity to identify with new terms that are more suitable to that individual.
Gender is fluid
Gender is an incredibly personal thing and peoples gender identity may change over time. Much like sexuality, it can change throughout peoples lifetimes and we should always be respectful of each other as individuals.
We want to help raise awareness of all forms of gender, some of which are detailed below. It is important to note that this is by no means an exclusive list and you should always seek more information and insights or ask someone if you’re unsure. The best way to become a better ally, is to ask questions.
Gender
Gender is quite simply a social construct, meaning that we as humans created it, along with the expectations, rules and norms that we typically use to define gender.
That means that individuals may identify with a different gender than what they were assigned at birth.
Sexual orientation is totally separate from gender identity. Your sexual orientation refers to who you’re attracted to, and gender identity refers to how you perceive your gender.
It is important to remember this and ensure these two things are treated very separately and we are respectful of peoples choices when it comes to both gender identity and sexual orientation.
Orientation
Cisgender
Cisgender - or cis - refers to people whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth. So if you were born with a penis and you feel and consider yourself to be male, you are a cisgender male.
Trans
Trans -sometimes known as transgender - refers to someone whose gender does not align with the sex they were assigned at birth. Trans is not aligned with what was determined when someone was born in the same way that a cis person is aligned with what was determined.
A trans man would be someone who was assigned female at birth, but has transitioned, or is transitioning, to expressing a male gender identity.
A trans woman would be someone who was assigned male at birth but has transitioned, or is transitioning, to expressing a female gender identity.
Non-binary
Non-binary is an umbrella term for people whose gender is not just male or female and falls outside the category of “binary genders”, However this may have different meanings to different people.
Non-binary can mean anything outside of binary genders, someone who is transgender, or someone who doesn’t fall strictly within the binary at all. Someone can be trans, gender fluid, genderqueer, and non-binary all at the same time.
Intersex
People who are intersex are born with physical sex characteristics that cannot be traditionally classified as male or female.
This might be someone who is born with genitals that appear female on the outside, but have male-typical anatomy internally. Variations may appear in a person’s chromosomes, natural hormones, genitalia, or gonads, secondary sex characteristics, or some combination of these things.
It is estimated that up to 1.7% people are born with intersex traits, and intersexuality can be seen in many animals as well as humans.
Cishet
Cishet is short for “cisgender heterosexual,” or someone who is both cis and straight. Note: that heterosexual or “straight” is not a gender term, but a sexual orientation. However, it’s relevant to gender when combined with cisgender.
Genderqueer
Genderqueer refers to someone who feels they have a queer or non-normative experience with gender, either through their gender identity, their gender presentation, or other experiences of gender.
A genderqueer person may identify as neither gender, both, or a combination. They do not subscribe to the traditional gender binary, and therefore is often used interchangeably with non-binary to signify that the gender is neither strictly male or female.
Gender fluid
Gender in itself can be fluid, but someone who identifies as gender fluid feels that their gender can change and vary over time.
Gender fluid people find themselves moving between different gender presentations and identifications, possibly identifying as a male one day, a female another day. They may use gender-neutral pronouns such as they/ them, as can non-binary or genderqueer people.
Agender
A person who identifies as agender does not identify themselves as having a particular gender. A good way to remember this is that using “a” as a prefix means an absence of something: so agender = absence of gender.
Gender nonconforming
Gender nonconforming relates to a person whose behaviour or appearance does not conform to prevailing cultural and social expectations about what is appropriate to their gender.
This means challenging and subverting gender stereotypes and expectations. Some societies impose a set of gender “expectations” such as women wearing makeup and high heels and it being unacceptable for men to do so, but gender- nonconforming individuals reject that way of thinking entirely.
Sex
Sex usually refers to what doctors assign a person at birth based on their genitals, generally either male or female.
Defining sex versus gender can be a complicated area, but general consensus is that we should refer to what people were assigned at birth, based on their external genitalia, as their “sex”.
This of course means that we should treat sex differently from gender.
This content has been produced by reading a number of different resources in our mission to become better allies. If there is anything on this page you believe to be inaccurate, please do get in touch so we can try and improve our understanding.