The claim

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has introduced her Australian Education Legislation Amendment (Prohibiting the Indoctrination of Children) Bill to the Parliament, telling the Senate "some teachers and schools [are] pushing the idea that a child's biological sex does not determine whether you are male or female".

"How many transgender children are there in schools in Australia?" the senator asked.

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"According to the 2016 census, just 57 students under the age of 15 identified as transgender."

Is that correct? RMIT ABC Fact Check finds out.

The verdict

Senator Hanson's claim is wrong.

The 2016 census did not contain a question on whether or not respondents identified as transgender. Rather, a question asked: "is [the person] male, female or other?"

Of the responses to that question for people aged 0 to 14, "other" accounted for 57.

This figure does not account for respondents who may have reported as male or female, but whose sex assigned at birth did not match that response.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics makes clear the census statistics are not an accurate representation of the true number of trans and gender diverse people in Australia.

This is because people completing the census had to take extra steps to access a specialised form with an option to answer other than male or female.

Further, the ABS state that "people who have been treated with disrespect, abuse and discrimination because of their sex or gender may be unwilling to reveal their sex in an official document".

Experts also noted that transgender people may be more likely to select the option aligning with their gender identity rather than the 'other' option on a form such as the census.

While there is no official count of transgender people in Australia, experts pointed Fact Check to a number of sources which indicated far more than 57 young Australians identified as trans or gender diverse.

For example, the Royal Children's Hospital Gender Service in Melbourne, Australia's largest such service, had 267 referrals in 2018 of children under 18 identifying as transgender, the bulk of whom would have been aged under 15, according to a spokeswoman for the service.

And while not a count of students under 15, a 2019 survey of older Australian secondary students found 2.3 per cent identified as transgender.

Further, a 2014 New Zealand study found 1.2 per cent of secondary students identified as transgender.

There is no official count of transgender people in Australia. ( RMIT ABC Fact Check )

What does it mean to be transgender?

Firstly, it is important to understand the difference between "sex" and "gender".

According to the Australian Government Guidelines on the Recognition of Sex and Gender, sex refers to "the chromosomal, gonadal and anatomical characteristics associated with biological sex".

Meanwhile, "Gender is part of a person's social and personal identity. It refers to each person's deeply felt internal and individual identity and the way a person presents and is recognised within the community," the guidelines state.

"A person's sex and gender may not necessarily be the same."

When it comes to the definition of "transgender", advocacy groups say it is a broad term used to describe a number of gender identities.

Trans and gender diverse advocacy group Transgender Victoria says transgender people have gender identities and expressions that differ from their sex assigned at birth.

"For example, someone who was assigned male at birth and is transgender may be female, genderqueer, non-binary, agender, or any other gender that is not male," a document on the group's website says.

"Transgender is often used as an umbrella term, either on its own or as part of the larger term 'trans and gender diverse', but may also be used as a gender in and of itself."

Similarly, a 2017 report on the mental health experiences of young trans people says that "trans individuals describe their gender in different ways".

"Trans people generally experience or identify their gender as not matching their sex assigned at birth. This includes people who identify as transgender, non-binary, agender, genderqueer and more," the report, from the Telethon Kids Institute, states.

Media representiative for Transgender Victoria Sally Goldner told Fact Check the term "trans and gender diverse" encompasses anyone whose sense of identity and expression differed from expectations given their sex assigned at birth, but that the general public would likely understand "transgender" to fit this definition.



How does the census define sex and gender?

An ABS information page regarding sex and gender diversity in the 2016 census contains the following definitions:

"Sex refers to a person's biological characteristics. A person's sex is usually described as being male or female. Some people may have both male and female characteristics, or neither male nor female characteristics, or other sexual characteristics. Sex is assigned at birth and is relatively fixed. However, a person's sex may change during their lifetime as a result of procedures commonly referred to as sex change, gender reassignment, gender affirmation, transsexual surgery, transgender reassignment or sexual reassignment. Throughout this process, which may be over a considerable period of time, sex may be recorded as either male, female or other."

"Sex refers to a person's biological characteristics. A person's sex is usually described as being male or female. Some people may have both male and female characteristics, or neither male nor female characteristics, or other sexual characteristics. Sex is assigned at birth and is relatively fixed. However, a person's sex may change during their lifetime as a result of procedures commonly referred to as sex change, gender reassignment, gender affirmation, transsexual surgery, transgender reassignment or sexual reassignment. Throughout this process, which may be over a considerable period of time, sex may be recorded as either male, female or other." "Gender refers to the way in which a person identifies their masculine or feminine characteristics. A person's gender relates to their deeply held internal and individual sense of gender and is not always exclusively male or female. It may or may not correspond to their sex at birth. As gender is determined by the individual, it can therefore be fluid over time."

What did the census ask?

The Australian Census of Population and Housing has included a question on sex since its inception in 1911. The latest census, conducted in 2016, was the first to include an option to answer that question with 'other', as well as the traditional options of 'male' and 'female'.

As explained by the ABS, neither the standard paper nor online census forms in 2016 allowed households to select an option for sex other than male or female.

An ABS spokesman told Fact Check, "respondents generally needed to take extra steps and have knowledge of special procedures to report their sex as other than male or female".

When completing the census online, households needed to contact the ABS, either by phone or online, to receive a code which would grant them access to a specialised version of the online form including the "other" option.

To understand how to nominate an answer other than male or female on the paper census form, households needed to take initiative to access "how to answer" instructions, which were available on the ABS website or in fact sheets.

This is the way the question on sex/gender appeared in the 2016 census online (above) and on paper (below). ( Supplied: Australian Bureau of Statistics )

These instructions explained respondents could leave the male and female boxes unticked on the paper form and write in the space next to those boxes instead.

While Senator Hanson's claim relates to the number of respondents who identified as transgender, the census did not ask specifically whether respondents identified as transgender.

The ABS information page regarding sex and gender diversity in the 2016 census shows the question as it appeared on the online and paper census forms.

The ABS notes that the census question does not specifically mention sex or gender and explains that it reports the results as pertaining to "sex/gender" as "many [people] did not give enough information to determine which" they were referring to in their answer.

The results of the census

According to the ABS page on sex and gender diversity in the 2016 census, "some 1,260 people were considered to have provided a valid and intentional sex/gender diverse response".

A table on that information page shows 4.5 per cent of the total number of reported sex/gender diverse people were aged 0-14 years. That's 57 young sex/gender diverse people.

This number was confirmed to Fact Check to be correct by an ABS spokesman.

4.5 per cent of respondents aged 0-14 answered "other" to the sex/gender question in the census ( Supplied: Australian Bureau of Statistics )

Why the ABS says that count is inaccurate

While it would be correct to say just 57 people aged under 15 were reported as sex/gender diverse in the 2016 census, the ABS warns that this figure is not an accurate count of the true number of transgender and gender diverse Australians.

"[This is] due to limitations around the special procedures and willingness or opportunity to report as sex and/or gender diverse," the ABS page on gender diversity in the census states.

The "special procedures" are those described above.

It says the total figure for all ages of 1,260 "is a minimum estimate and is expected to have been substantially under-reported".

The ABS spokesman also explained that the census count is inaccurate in part because "people who have been treated with disrespect, abuse and discrimination because of their sex or gender may be unwilling to reveal their sex in an official document".

In addition, the ABS information page notes:

"In households, it is common for one person to complete responses on behalf of other household members, who may not know or respect how these other household members would report their sex or gender."

Does the census identify transgender people?

In addition to the census not asking specifically whether respondents identify as transgender, experts told Fact Check transgender people would not necessarily select the "other" option when filling in the form.

"I think overwhelmingly trans women such as myself would put 'female' and trans men would put 'male', Ms Goldner said.

"The non-binary people, given all the hassle, the problems with the census generally, might have given up and perhaps classified themselves inaccurately."

Kerry Robinson, leader of the Sexualities & Genders Research cluster at the Western Sydney University School of Social Sciences, agreed.

"Many transgender people would select 'male' or 'female' — i.e. the gender that is affirming of their identity — rather than 'other'," Professor Robinson told Fact Check in an email.

"In which case, they would be rendered invisible in the census. However, some may select 'other'. It is hard to account for trans people in such contexts, so numbers would not be accurate and would be an underestimate."

Transgender people may select "male" or "female" to describe themselves on the census, rather than selecting "other". ( RMIT ABC Fact Check )

David Rhodes, a senior lecturer in the School of Education at Edith Cowan University, noted that it was likely to be parents filling out the census form on behalf of transgender children under the age of 15, which could also affect the accuracy.

Dr Rhodes, whose research broadly focuses on social justice issues in education, added there had been more effort in recent years, particularly in the corporate sector, to be more inclusive of the transgender community.

"To put [the 2016 census] in context, that was before the marriage equality debate, and I think we've come a long way since 2016."

Both Ms Goldner and Professor Robinson noted there were human rights problems associated with the failure to collect information trans and gender diverse communities.

In terms of the 2016 census, Ms Goldner said:

"You had to ring up to get a special link and password to use the 'other' option, and given we've had federal anti-discrimation law since August 2013 that recognises gender identity other than male female, it was discrimination."

Transgender young people presenting to gender services

A spokeswoman for the Royal Children's Hospital Gender Service in Melbourne provided Fact Check with figures for the number of transgender-identifying adolescents presenting to the service.

Those figures show 267 young people up to the age of 17 were referred to the gender service in 2018. In 2016, that number was 226.

The number of children presenting to the Royal Children's Hospital Gender Service by year. ( Supplied: Royal Children's Hospital Gender Service )

The spokeswoman told Fact Check most of those referred to the service would be younger than 15, with the median age of patients who were assigned female at birth being 14.8 years and those assigned male at birth having a median age of 12.4 years.

She added that the Royal Children's Hospital's Gender Service was the biggest in Australia and that similar services in Brisbane and Perth would likely see approximately half to two-thirds of the referrals in Melbourne.

A spokeswoman for the Government of Western Australian Child and Adolescent Health Service provided Fact Check with a statement regarding the number of young people referred to the state's gender diversity service.

"As of July 2019, there were 97 young people aged 9 to 17 years receiving gender affirming treatment at Perth Children's Hospital Gender Diversity Service. These young people identify as transgender.

"Over the past six years (2014 to 2019) 608 young people were referred to the Perth Children's Hospital Gender Diversity Service. 353 of these referrals were for children under 15 years of age."

Other measures of the trans population

Experts pointed Fact Check to a number of sources for an estimate of transgender children in Australia.

The first, a 2014 New Zealand study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, found that of more than 8,000 surveyed secondary students, 1.2 per cent reported identifying as transgender while a further 2.5 per cent reported being not sure about their gender.

More recently, a June 2019 report from the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University, surveyed more than 6,000 Australian Year 10, 11 and 12 students.

That report found that 2.3 per cent of the students surveyed, though likely almost all aged older than 15, identified as trans or gender diverse.

If that figure held true for all senior secondary school students in Australia in 2018, 11,238 would have identified as transgender.

However, Dr Rhodes told Fact Check older secondary students would be more likely to identify as transgender, as they have experienced or are experiencing puberty, and are more mature.

"They may have more confidence, or access to more support in this area as they grow older and mature, and have a greater sense of their own identity and sexuality," he said.

Another report, commissioned by NSW Health, found 1.9 per cent of 1416 NSW residents aged 12 to 24 and surveyed in 2016 and 2017 identified as 'other' rather than male or female.

In comparison, the 57 young people counted as sex/gender diverse in the 2016 census made up 0.0013 per cent of the total number (4,364,608) of children aged under 15.

Principal researcher: Ellen McCutchan

Sources



