Title: 1.4 Sex and gender – Gender diversity
Course: Introduction to gender-based analysis plus GBA+ > Section: Module 1

As we continue to pursue inclusion, important conversations are taking place in Canada and around the world concerning sex, gender identity, and gender expression. Our understanding of sex and gender and how and when to use these designations continues to grow and shift.

This is only an introduction to gender identity and diversity. Depending on the topic of your GBA+ and your own level of understanding, consider learning more about the richness and diversity of gender as a multi-dimensional concept and area of study.

Sex and gender – Gender diversity

The following definitions are adapted from The Gender Integration Framework from the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the Ontario Human Rights Commission, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Definitions have also been provided by the Government of Canada’s LGBTQ2 Secretariat.

Sex: Strictly speaking, the word sex refers to biological differences between men and women, their physiological characteristics, the sum of biological characteristics that define the spectrum of humans as females and males, or a biological construct referring to the genetic, hormonal, anatomical, and physiological characteristics based on which an individual is classified at birth as either male or female. Given that this word only establishes a subdivision between men and women, it does not recognize the existence of other categories that do not fit within the female/male binary system.

Sex assigned at birth: This idea transcends the concept of sex as male or female and is associated with the determination of sex as a social construct. Sex assignment is not an innate biological fact; rather, sex is assigned at birth based on the perception others have of the genitalia. Most individuals are easily classified, but some do not fit within the female/male binary system.

Gender/sex binary system: Social and cultural model dominant in western culture which “considers gender and sex as consisting of two, and only two, rigid categories, namely male/man and female/woman. Such a system or model excludes those who do not fit within the two categories (such as transsexual or intersex persons)".

Intersexuality: All those situations in which an individual’s sexual anatomy does not physically conform to the culturally defined standard for the female or male body. Intersexual people are born with sexual anatomy, reproductive organs, or chromosomal patterns that do not fit the typical definitions of male or female. These characteristics may be apparent at birth or emerge later in life. Intersex people may identify as a man or a woman or as neither of these categories. Intersexuality is not related to sexual orientation or gender identity: intersex people experience the same range of sexual orientations and gender identities as those who are not intersex.

Gender: This refers to socially constructed identities, attributes, and roles for women and men and society’s social and cultural meaning for these biological differences.

Gender identity: Gender identity refers to each person’s deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth, including the personal sense of the body (which may involve, if freely chosen, modification of bodily appearance or function through medical, surgical or other means) and other expressions of gender, including dress, speech, and mannerisms. Gender identity is a broad concept that creates space for self-identification and reflects a deeply felt and experienced sense of one’s own gender.  Thus, gender identity and its expression also take many forms; some people do not identify themselves as either male or female or identify themselves as both.

Gender expression: is understood to be the outward manifestation of a person’s gender, by physical aspects, which may include dress, hairstyle, or the use of cosmetics, or by mannerisms, speech, personal behavior or social interaction, and names or personal references. A person’s gender expression may or may not correspond to his or her self-perceived gender identity.

LGBTI: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans or Transgender, and Intersex. The acronym LGBTI describes a diverse group of people who do not conform to conventional or traditional notions of male and female gender roles. Regarding this specific acronym, the Court recalls that the terminology relating to these human groups is not fixed and evolves rapidly and that many other terms exist including asexual people, queers, transvestites and transsexuals, among others. In addition, in different cultures other terms may be used to describe people who form same-sex relationships and those who self-identify or exhibit non-binary gender identities (such as hijra, meti, lala, skesana, motsoalle, mithli, kuchu, kawein, travesty, muxé, fa’afafine, fakaleiti, hamjensgara and Two-Spirit). Despite the foregoing, although the Court will not rule on which acronyms, terms and definitions represent the populations analyzed more fairly and exactly, solely for the effects of this opinion and as it has done in previous cases and has been the practice of the OAS General Assembly, it will use this acronym indistinctly, and without this meaning a lack of acknowledgment of other manifestations of gender expression, gender identity and sexual orientation.

Transgender or trans: when the gender identity of the person does not correspond with the sex assigned at birth. 50 The gender identity of a trans person is not determined by surgical interventions or medical treatments. The word trans is an umbrella term used to describe people with a wide range of gender identities, and the common denominator is that their sense of their own gender is different to the sex that they were assigned at birth and the gender identity that has traditionally been assigned to them. A transgender or trans person may identify her or himself as a man, woman, trans man, trans woman or non-binary person, or in other terms such as hijra, third gender, two-spirit, transvestite, fa’afafine, queer, transpinoy, muxhe, waria and meti. The concept of gender identity differs from that of sexual orientation.

Transsexual person: Transsexual persons feel and perceive themselves as belonging to a gender that is not the one socially or culturally associated with their biological sex and who opt to have medical treatment – hormonal, surgical or both – to adapt their physical-biological appearance to their mental, spiritual and social sense of self.

Transvestite: In general, it could be said that transvestites are persons who express their gender identity – either on a permanent or temporary basis – by wearing articles of clothing and adopting the deportment and mannerisms of the gender opposite to the one socially and culturally associated with their biological sex. This may or may not include body modifications.

Non-Binary (also ‘genderqueer’) refers to a person whose gender identity does not align with a binary understanding of gender such as man or woman. A gender identity which may include man and woman, androgynous, fluid, multiple, no gender, or a different gender outside of the “woman—man” spectrum.

Trans or transgender is a person whose gender identity differs from what is typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth. It includes people who identify with binary genders (i.e. trans men and women), and people who do not fit within the gender binary, i.e. non-binary, gender non-conforming, genderqueer, agender, etc.

For further information, please click on the following link:

https://www.corteidh.or.cr/docs/opiniones/seriea_24_eng.pdf