Gender & Sex

In the context of the equal status grounds, 'gender' represents both the biological sex of an individual and/or the gender.  Historically, these terms were separate, but became interchangeable.  Now the terms are again being made separate, and 'gender' is more understood to be performative, a preferred gender identity or a societally ascribed role e.g. man/woman, boy/girl, gender non-binary or gender fluid, while 'sex' is the biological difference between individuals who are born male, female or intersex.

When people think 'gender equality', the usual association is equality between men and women as a binary relationship.  UCC is working to progress this for some time, currently through Athena SWAN and prior through the work of GENOVATE.  As noted abover, however, gender and sex are broader and non-binary in nature.  This section hopes to introduce you to a more holisitc view of gender and sex.

Cisgender

The term 'cisgender' is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "designating a person whose sense of personal identity corresponds to the sex and gender assigned to him or her at birth (in contrast with transgender)".  Merriam-Webster defines it as "a person whose gender identity corresponds with the sex the person had or was identified as having at birth"

This terminology has been criticised.

Some feminst scholars and intersex activists argue that cicgender shold be replaced with non-trans for clarity, as this can be better understood.  And intersex individuals and advocates argue that for them, cis is exclusionary and problematic as, for an intersex individual who identifies their gender as fluid or non-binary, they are cisgender while experiencing none of the advantages or privilege associated with it or with being cissexual.  Its binary nature also can erase the reality and experiences of intersex individuals.  Hida Viloria, author and human rights activst, explains it here in "Caught in the Gender Binary Blindspot: Intersex Erasure in Cisgender Rhetoric": 

"But if you are born intersex, this doesn’t actually apply to you because there are no gender norms attributed to your biological sex as society doesn’t even acknowledge that it exists. Indeed, as “cis” means “on this side of”, and “trans” means, “on the other side of”, those of us who are not on either side of this binary framework of sex are inherently excluded from cisgender rhetoric. And note, we didn’t used to be, back when people simply said “trans*” or “non-trans*”.

While it is useful to distinguish between gender-normative and gender-variant people, the term cisgender only successfully does so if you pretend that intersex people and other gender variant folks don’t exist. For example, where do butch lesbians who proudly identify as female fit into the equation? Technically they’re cisgender, not trans*, because they identify as their biological sex, but they don’t experience cisgender privilege. I can think of a lot of males in the same boat. They’re not trans*but they’re not really cisgender either, according to “cisgender privilege” rhetoric. They fall into a grey zone that the term’s proponents did not take into account, which I call the gender binary blind spot."

Intersex

"Intersex people are born with bodies that are different to ‘typical’ male/female ones – they have different sex characteristics [such as genitalia, hormones, chromosomes, gonads (ovaries/testes)]." https://www.dcu.ie/intersex  During the twentieth century medical practices emerged of intervening on the otherwise healthy bodies of intersex people, particularly very young children, and inscribing, through medical and surgical interventions, gender identities on intersex bodies.

The law in Ireland does not currently recognise intersex as a biological sex, only recognising the male/female binary.

Intersex Awareness Day happens annually on November 8th.

The Quad, UCC lit purple for Intersex Awareness Day, coordinated nationally by DCU

Transgender & Non-binary

Transgender or Trans is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity or gender expression differs from the sex assigned to them at birth and includes people who live permanently or temporarily in one or more genders. The term ‘trans’ can also be used to describe people who:

• Intend to undergo, or are undergoing social, legal, and/or medical transition at any stage
• Identify as someone with a different gender from that which they were assigned at birth, but who may have decided not to undergo medical intervention, present in clothing worn by the other sex, either permanently or temporarily.

Non-binary is a term for people who identify as a gender that is neither male nor female, or who are not male or female exclusively. The term non-binary can itself refer to a specific gender identity, or it can function as an umbrella term which can include (though not always) people who identify as agender, bigender, genderqueer, intersex or neutrois, amongst other identities.

For more information, read UCC's Gender Identity & Expression Policy.

Gender Equality in UCC: Athena SWAN

The Athena SWAN Charter recognises and celebrates good practice in recruiting, retaining and promoting women in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) in higher education. The Charter aims to address gender imbalances in STEMM disciplines, based on the belief that endeavours in these fields will be enriched when they can benefit from the talent of the whole population, and when barriers to progress in academic careers are removed. In May 2015 the charter was expanded to recognise work undertaken in arts, humanities, social sciences, business and law (AHSSBL), and in professional and support roles, and for trans staff and students. The charter now recognises work undertaken to address gender equality more broadly, and not just barriers to progression that affect women.

Read about Athena SWAN in UCC here.

There is a growing body of work showing that women are being disproportionately and negatively affected by the Covid-19 lockdown.  For more information see here.

Gender Equality in UCC: Transgender Awareness

In March 2018, UCC flew the Transgender Flag on the Main Quad.  

According to Dr Karl Kitching, Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Unit, UCC, "Flying the Transgender Pride Flag indicates UCC’s growing appreciation and understanding of trans and gender non-binary issues in Ireland and internationally.  UCC is currently in the process of finalising its Gender Identity and Expression Policy, which seeks to support trans and non-binary staff and students in a variety of ways.”

UCC runs Trans Awareness training faciliated by group s such as TENI and Gendered Intelligence.

The LGBT Staff Network was launched in 2008 to provide an advisory function for the university on LGBT issues, and also support and a social outlet for Trans staff among others, and the LGBT* Society provides similar network for students.

Interesting fact: '“Two-spirit” refers to a person who identifies as having both a masculine and a feminine spirit, and is used by some Indigenous people to describe their sexual, gender and/or spiritual identity.' https://lgbtqhealth.ca/community/two-spirit.php  It is found in use among indigenous peoples in North America.

Links

National Womens Council of Ireland

Transgender Equality Network Ireland

Intersex Mapping Study (DCU)