The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) is committed to excellence and equity in women’s health while recognising our workforce includes and cares for people of all gender identities, including cisgender, non-binary, transgender and gender diverse people and their whānau.
In our 2023 member survey, 88% of respondents had cared for transgender or gender diverse patients, highlighting the importance of using patient-centred language. Everyone deserves respectful, appropriate and safe healthcare.
TV opposes the Legislation (Definitions of Woman and Man) Amendment Bill. This Bill attempts to inaccurately reduce people to their sex assigned at birth using language like “a woman means an adult human biological female,” which fails to provide clinical clarity and ignores the complexity of human sex characteristics.
TV acknowledges that sex and gender are different. Sex describes the physical characteristics a person may have, while gender is the internal identity a person experiences. Human sex is a complex product of chromosomes, genes, epigenetics (how genes are turned on and off), hormones and enzymes.
Sex is a spectrum between male and female. While most people are at one end or the other, there is a range of possibilities all the way between, known as intersex or innate variation of sex characteristics (IVSC). This is estimated to be around 1-2% of the population. Equally, a person’s gender identity may or may not align with their sex.
This Bill harms both intersex and trans & gender diverse communities by refusing to recognise them for who they are, impeding their equitable healthcare access. It also harms cisgender people by reducing gender to biological functions, for example, defining women by their reproductive capacity regardless of individual circumstances.
The Bill ignores te ao Māori concepts like takatāpui[1] and violates Te Tiriti o Waitangi by failing to recognise that takatāpui and takatāpuitanga[2] are taonga. It threatens the right of takatāpui whānau to equitable, safe healthcare access through exclusionary language.
TV is implementing the Gendered Language Project to improve inclusive language and spaces. We are beginning to implement actions from this project and look forward to working with trans and gender diverse whānau on developing patient safety and clinical guidelines.
TV emphasises that an inclusive society that welcomes everyone, acknowledging and embracing the infinite complexity of human existence, is vital for wellbeing and health outcomes. The Legislation (Definitions of Woman and Man) Amendment Bill has the potential to do harm if it is selected and progresses.
Notes
[1] An umbrella term for a person with diverse gender, sexuality or sex characteristics
[2] Practices and ways of being takatāpui
Media enquiries
Catherine Cooper
Executive Director Aotearoa New Zealand
Email: ccooper@ranzcog.org.nz
Phone: +64 21 137 0748
