Academics are set to explore whether a person’s gender is still relevant in modern law.
The study will examine how gender is relevant to legal interactions and documents such as passports and birth certificates
Experts in law, political theory and social psychology will begin a comprehensive three-year project in May 2018, to investigate how sex and gender are defined and regulated for legal purposes.
They will look at the problems the current system raises for many people who do not identify with the limited male and female categories, and the team will explore different models for reforming gender classification.
Reforming Legal Gender Identity will examine the effects on English law if the ways of determining people’s gender changed, particularly if gender became self-determined, as well as the wider implications of reform for advancing equality and diversity.
The project will investigate the implication which when gender is no longer assigned at birth, what implications this might have for single-sex schools, and gender-specific shelters and community organisations – where entry and participation are based on having a particular sex.
Professor Elizabeth Peel, of Loughborough’s School of Social, Political and Geographical Sciences, said: “The research aims to assess and generate public debate about our current system for determining legal gender.
“I am particularly excited about understanding people’s attitudes towards our gender system and whether and how people think gender could be legally recognised in different ways, or perhaps not at all.”
The £724,000 study will be led by Professor Davina Cooper, of Kent Law School, and will include Flora Renz, of City University of London and Dr Emily Grabham, also of Kent Law School.
The grant for the project was awarded by the Economic and Social Research Council.
Prof Cooper said: “We are particularly interested in the implications that follow from assigning gender as a legal status at birth. Should this be reformed?
“What are the benefits and challenges in doing so, and what kinds of reforms would best address different people’s needs and concerns?
“It is very exciting to have the opportunity to conduct this innovative research which has the potential to change how gender is understood and regulated.”
The research will include legal analysis, surveys, and interviews with officials, equality and diversity organisations, single-sex service providers, lawyers, activists and a wider public.
The project will benefit from an expert advisory board comprising academics in the field, as well as other stakeholders.
Findings from the ongoing research will be shared through an interactive website and presented at public events as the project unfolds.
One project aim is to develop a draft bill to provide a focal point for discussion of legal reform.
This will present the best case for reform and demonstrate what legal change could look like and mean.
An academic book and several articles will also be published.
ENDS
Notes for editors
Press release reference number: 17/96
Loughborough University is equipped with a live in-house broadcast unit via the Globelynx network. To arrange an interview with one of our experts please contact the press office on 01509 223491. Bookings can be made online via www.globelynx.com
Loughborough is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines. It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme, named the best university in the world to study sports-related subjects in the 2017 QS World University Rankings and top in the country for its student experience in the 2016 THE Student Experience Survey.
Loughborough was ranked 6th in the Guardian University League Table 2018 and 10th in The UK Complete University Guide 2018 and was also named Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2017. It has been awarded a Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework, which recognises institutions that deliver consistently outstanding teaching that is of the highest quality found in the UK.
Loughborough is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’ and is in the top 10 in England for research intensity. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, Loughborough has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.
The Loughborough University London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.
Elizabeth Peel is Professor of Communication and Social Interaction in the School of Social Sciences, Loughborough University, UK. She is a critical social psychologist and held a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship for the Dementia Talking: Care, Conversation and Communication project. She is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS) and chairs its Psychology of Sexualities Section. Her co-edited book Out in Psychology: LGBTQ Perspectives (Wiley, 2007) won the American Psychological Association Division 44 distinguished book award, and her co-authored textbook Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer Psychology: An introduction (Cambridge University Press, 2010) won the BPS book award 2013. Her latest books are Ageing and Sexualities: Interdisciplinary
