woman
Let an agent handle the category carefully: use it where it genuinely determines something, record how it was established, and not infer it from appearance or from a name.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify
Researched by: Claude
Purpose and description
Let an agent handle the category carefully: use it where it genuinely determines something, record how it was established, and not infer it from appearance or from a name.
An adult human female. The category is used in law, statistics, medicine and everyday life with definitions that do not always coincide.
What it is for: Not applicable. The model exists so that systems that must use this category do so with a stated basis rather than an assumption.
It can be record it, when there is a stated basis and a reason to record it; use it where a rule or a clinical pathway genuinely depends on it; get it wrong by assuming it, which is both an error and a harm.
Distinguishing features
Adult, which brings in an age line that differs by jurisdiction and by purpose
Legal sex, sex recorded at birth, gender identity and clinical sex characteristics are four different things that this word is used for
Which of those a system means changes what is a correct answer, so the basis must travel with the value
Statistical and legal uses of the category are not interchangeable
What it looks like
No reliable visual determination exists, and systems that assume one produce errors that fall hardest on the people least like the assumption.
How it is recognised
Appearance, name and voice are not evidence of this category and must not be treated as such
What can be recorded is what a person states, or what a document states, each with its own basis
Where the category is not needed for the decision, the right action is not to record it at all
Related models
is a kind of - the person model carries identity, rights and data protection
is confused with - distinct concepts recorded for different purposes and often merged in one field
is confused with - a document value that may differ from other bases and can change
regulated by - this is special category data in most regimes, and discrimination law attaches to it
In practice
Families and kinds
by basis of the record: self-declared, document, clinical, administrative
by purpose of the record: legal status, clinical pathway, statistics, service eligibility
Standards and regulation
Data protection rules treating sex and gender data as sensitive, requiring a lawful basis and minimisation
Equality legislation, which forbids treating people worse on this ground
Statistical standards, which define categories for counting and are not fit for individual decisions
Clinical guidance, which uses sex characteristics for pathways and states them explicitly
Failure modes and hazards
Inferring the category from name, appearance or voice, which is both wrong and harmful
Recording one basis and using it for a purpose that needs another, most damagingly in clinical settings
Collecting it where it is not needed, which is a data protection breach and an avoidable risk
Treating a statistical category as a fact about an individual
Also called
+349
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Also registered as vr.tr.woman-2
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions.
What is recorded and on what basis Which of several concepts is meant here.
One word is used for several distinct things, and a value without its basis cannot be used safely for anything.
Basis of the value
Self-declared, documentary, clinical or administrative.
Basis and its source
Where the value came from and what it therefore means.
- On what basis is this value recorded, and by whom? provenance
- Which concept does it represent - legal status, self-description or clinical characteristic? definition
Change over time
How and when a recorded value may change.
Change and history
What happens when the value changes and what history is kept.
- Can this value change, by what process, and what happens to prior records? boundary
- What must not be disclosed about a change, and to whom? action
Purpose and necessity Whether it should be collected at all.
Most systems collect this by habit; the model should make the burden of justification explicit before anything else.
Necessity
What decision actually depends on it.
Justification for collection
The decision that requires it, if any.
- Which decision here genuinely depends on this category? definition
- If none does, what should the system do instead of collecting it? action
Minimisation and retention
How little is enough, and for how long.
Minimal collection
The least that serves the purpose.
- What is the least detail that serves the stated purpose? boundary
- How long may it be kept, and what triggers deletion? action
Use and fairness What may be done with it once held.
This is a protected ground almost everywhere, so its use is constrained in ways that ordinary attributes are not.
Permitted use
Where it may lawfully influence a decision.
Lawful uses
Decisions this value may and may not enter.
- For which decisions may this value lawfully be used? action
- Which uses would amount to discrimination, and how would that be detected? boundary
Disclosure
Who may see it.
Disclosure limits
Access rules and the harm from breaching them.
- Who may see this value, and under what control? definition
- What is the specific harm from unnecessary disclosure here? action
Clinical and service use Where the category does real work.
There are settings where a correct answer materially changes care, and those are exactly the settings where using the wrong basis is dangerous.
Clinical relevance
Where sex characteristics change a pathway.
Clinically relevant facts
What clinicians actually need, which is usually narrower than the category.
- Which specific characteristics does the clinical decision depend on? definition
- How should those be recorded so the category is not used as a proxy? action
Service eligibility
Where access depends on it.
Eligibility rules
Services with a lawful single-sex basis and how that is applied.
- Which services here have a lawful basis for using this category for eligibility? provenance
- How must a decision be explained to the person affected? action
What the second pass must settle
- Should the registry hold one model with an explicit basis, or separate models for legal sex, recorded sex and gender identity?
- How should a system represent that a value is unknown, withheld or not relevant, without defaulting to a guess?
- What is the minimum justification a system should record before collecting this at all?