1285.0 - Demographic Variables, 1999

ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 11/08/1999

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Contents >> Sex >> Introduction

1. Sex is a basic demographic variable used almost universally in statistical and administrative data collections relating to people. It differentiates any population in terms of male and female numbers and characteristics. The meaning, description and use of this concept is generally standard and consistent across Australian data sources. There have been and continue to be some variations in the name used for the concept ('gender' instead of 'sex') and in labels for and ordering of categories. For example 'Women' and 'Men' or 'Boys' and 'Girls' may be used instead of 'Males' and 'Females'.

2. This standard seeks to achieve consistency across all data sources in terminology, data collection procedures and definitions of categories associated with human sexes, and to achieve clarity with respect to the small number of cases where a person's sex cannot be categorised as Male or Female or may change over time.