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The Guardian view on the UK’s next census: counting what counts The Guardian view on the UK’s next census: counting what counts
(4 months later)
The Office for National Statistics is trying to find an accurate way of measuring the number of trans Britons. It’s harder than it looks
Mon 9 Oct 2017 19.12 BST
Last modified on Mon 27 Nov 2017 15.43 GMT
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Britons have been describing themselves more or less honestly to government at 10-year intervals since 1801, producing each decade a mirror that reflects back the changing world: more populous, healthier, more diverse and (nowadays) getting older. Each time, a few people declare themselves conscientious objectors, and some describe their religion as Jedi; but generally the result is a heartening demonstration that trust still exists between people and state – trust that rests on a general confidence that census data is collected by serious-minded people who want to gather facts expressly in order to use them to develop policy and improve administrative efficiency. Yet what the state wants to know about its citizens, and how it asks the questions to elicit their information, is rightly a matter for jealous scrutiny and complex calculation.Britons have been describing themselves more or less honestly to government at 10-year intervals since 1801, producing each decade a mirror that reflects back the changing world: more populous, healthier, more diverse and (nowadays) getting older. Each time, a few people declare themselves conscientious objectors, and some describe their religion as Jedi; but generally the result is a heartening demonstration that trust still exists between people and state – trust that rests on a general confidence that census data is collected by serious-minded people who want to gather facts expressly in order to use them to develop policy and improve administrative efficiency. Yet what the state wants to know about its citizens, and how it asks the questions to elicit their information, is rightly a matter for jealous scrutiny and complex calculation.
Anyone who doubts the importance in this process of trust need only look at the experience in authoritarian or despotic countries. Numbers are about power. There has been no universal census in Germany since the Nazis used population records to identify Jews. China uses its census to identify characteristics and behaviours that in a democracy would be regarded as strictly private. Stalin shot the census officials whose findings revealed a population that terror and famine had shrunk by 10 million.Anyone who doubts the importance in this process of trust need only look at the experience in authoritarian or despotic countries. Numbers are about power. There has been no universal census in Germany since the Nazis used population records to identify Jews. China uses its census to identify characteristics and behaviours that in a democracy would be regarded as strictly private. Stalin shot the census officials whose findings revealed a population that terror and famine had shrunk by 10 million.
And what gets counted counts. Numbers are about shaping policies, and they are about spending. They are the basis for the allocation of ever scarcer resources. That makes the accuracy of the census a matter of more than academic concern. And it is not just the headline numbers, but the needs – revealed by age, ethnicity and, yes, gender orientation – that shape policy and spending.And what gets counted counts. Numbers are about shaping policies, and they are about spending. They are the basis for the allocation of ever scarcer resources. That makes the accuracy of the census a matter of more than academic concern. And it is not just the headline numbers, but the needs – revealed by age, ethnicity and, yes, gender orientation – that shape policy and spending.
The Office for National Statistics, which is responsible for the census, finds itself in trouble in predictable quarters over whether and how it asks about sex and gender (though for veterans of earlier battles over the interpretation of ethnic identity, it is so far only a skirmish). Work is coming to an end on the design of the 2021 census and, having ducked the issue in 2011, serious thought is being given to trying to write a question or a series of questions that would reveal how many Britons identify their gender as trans – defined as a gender different to that assigned at birth.The Office for National Statistics, which is responsible for the census, finds itself in trouble in predictable quarters over whether and how it asks about sex and gender (though for veterans of earlier battles over the interpretation of ethnic identity, it is so far only a skirmish). Work is coming to an end on the design of the 2021 census and, having ducked the issue in 2011, serious thought is being given to trying to write a question or a series of questions that would reveal how many Britons identify their gender as trans – defined as a gender different to that assigned at birth.
But careful qualitative analysis has failed to come up with a question or questions that ask clearly for particular information, produce useful and reliable data, and don’t leave the respondent feeling either perplexed or excluded. This is the stuff of all serious research, it is hard to do and it is quite easy to poke fun at. But it matters, both because of the trust on which the census relies, and because finding a way to measure an identity that has a long history of being denied, ridiculed and abused is unavoidably tricky.But careful qualitative analysis has failed to come up with a question or questions that ask clearly for particular information, produce useful and reliable data, and don’t leave the respondent feeling either perplexed or excluded. This is the stuff of all serious research, it is hard to do and it is quite easy to poke fun at. But it matters, both because of the trust on which the census relies, and because finding a way to measure an identity that has a long history of being denied, ridiculed and abused is unavoidably tricky.
No decisions have been taken yet, except that they are still to come up with the right questions. There is no clear line from campaigners like Stonewall, although in general terms they approve of data collection about sexual orientation. Ethical and legislative issues pit the path to a decision. The census itself may soon be replaced by more frequent, smaller-scale social surveys that are better than the decennial household census at producing a detailed picture of the way we live now. But the ONS has got the big thing right: sexual orientation counts, and a way must be found to count it.No decisions have been taken yet, except that they are still to come up with the right questions. There is no clear line from campaigners like Stonewall, although in general terms they approve of data collection about sexual orientation. Ethical and legislative issues pit the path to a decision. The census itself may soon be replaced by more frequent, smaller-scale social surveys that are better than the decennial household census at producing a detailed picture of the way we live now. But the ONS has got the big thing right: sexual orientation counts, and a way must be found to count it.
Transgender
Opinion
Office for National Statistics
Census
LGBT rights
Gender
editorials
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