We often need to get information from people through forms. When we create forms, we have a responsibility to ensure they're crafted with inclusion and respect at the front of our minds. For some people, something as simple as filling in a form can be a frustrating, demeaning experience. Sometimes something as small as a poorly-designed form field can serve as a reminder of their feeling of invalidation, exclusion or otherness.
In tech, there are "edge cases". But there are no such thing as edge case people. For years, it's been part of my job to decide how to design forms. We've often needed to ask about gender. I've done a fair amount of research into how to write respectful, ethical forms and have been helped by invaluable conversations, feedback and ideas from others.
Today, I'm sharing what I've learned. What are we using the information for? Would not collecting it cause a problem? Will people feel comfortable answering? If we ask ourselves why we're requesting a particular piece of information from someone, and nobody can answer, it's probably a good sign we shouldn't be asking at all. This thought process also helps us explain to our user why we're asking. If we can give a good explanation, they'll likely be happier to give that information.
When we ask unecessarily, at best, we ask for someone's time and labour in completing the question; at worst, our question is invasive or offensive. Not to mention that longer forms have worse completion rates. When we ask, we need to do it thoughtfully, and ensure our users understand our reason for asking.
It's not good enough to simply ask people to select "male" or "female" in forms. If we need the information, we need to be far more thoughtful and considerate about how we ask about gender. Usually, it's not someone's sex we want to know about. Unless we're writing a medical form, we're likely more interested in gender. The UK Government recommends asking about gender, not sex, in most cases. Sex is more about physical biology though even asking about sex is complex , while gender is more about personal experience.
