gender reassignment dictionary definition

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Meaning of gender reassignment in English

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A decision to undertake gender reassignment is made when an individual feels that his or her gender at birth does not match their gender identity. This is called ‘gender dysphoria’ and is a recognised medical condition.

Gender reassignment refers to individuals, whether staff, who either:

• Have undergone, intend to undergo or are currently undergoing gender reassignment (medical and surgical treatment to alter the body).
• Do not intend to undergo medical treatment but wish to live permanently in a different gender from their gender at birth.

‘Transition’ refers to the process and/or the period of time during which gender reassignment occurs (with or without medical intervention).

Not all people who undertake gender reassignment decide to undergo medical or surgical treatment to alter the body. However, some do and this process may take several years. Additionally, there is a process by which a person can obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate , which changes their legal gender.

People who have undertaken gender reassignment are sometimes referred to as Transgender or Trans (see glossary ).

Transgender and sexual orientation

It should be noted that sexual orientation and transgender are not inter-related. It is incorrect to assume that someone who undertakes gender reassignment is lesbian or gay or that his or her sexual orientation will change after gender reassignment. However, historically the campaigns advocating equality for both transgender and lesbian, gay and bisexual communities have often been associated with each other. As a result, the University's staff and student support networks have established diversity networks that include both Sexual Orientation and Transgender groups.

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gender reassignment

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A physiological and ultimately surgical procedure, under medical supervision, for the purpose of changing a person's sexual characteristics. The process is undertaken by transsexual persons. A transsexual is a person who firmly believes that he or she belongs to the sex opposite to the sex (or gender) to which he or she was assigned by the anatomical structure of his or her body at birth, a condition known as gender dysphoria. It is important to distinguish a transsexual person from a transvestite, who merely wishes to dress in clothes of the opposite sex. Previously, under English law transsexual persons who had undergone gender reassignment were not recognized in their acquired gender, and although able to obtain some official documents in their new name and gender, they could not obtain a new birth certificate or marry in their acquired gender. Under the Gender Recognition Act 2004, a transsexual person may apply to the Gender Recognition Panel for the issue of a full Gender Recognition Certificate. Before issuing the certificate the Panel must be satisfied that the applicant has, or has had, gender dysphoria, has lived in his or her acquired gender for the past two years, and intends to continue to live in that gender until death. The certificate entitles the applicant to be legally recognized in his or her acquired gender, to a new birth certificate, and to marry in that gender. Transsexual persons who have not acquired a Gender Recognition Certificate will not be entitled to have their birth certificates amended and will still only be able to marry in the sex registered at birth. Important cases in this area include Corbett v Corbett [1971] P 83 (HL), Goodwin v UK (App no 28957/95) (2002) 35 EHRR 18, and Bellinger v Bellinger [2003] UKHL 21, [2003] 2 AC 467.

Initially discrimination in the workplace with respect to a person's sexual orientation or transsexualism was outside the ambit of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (see sex discrimination). The definition of sex within that Act referred to discrimination on grounds of biological gender and hence covered discrimination only between men and women. As a result of a series of cases before both the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights, the UK Sex Discrimination Act now includes transsexualism within its definition. As gender reassignment is an ongoing process, regulations have been issued clarifying the protections to be given at the workplace to a transsexual undergoing this process. The Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) Regulations 1999 bring UK law into line with the decision of the European Court of Justice in Case C-13/94 P v S and Cornwall CC [1996] IRLR 347, in which discrimination on grounds of gender reassignment was ruled to be contrary to European Community law.

The Regulations provide protection against discrimination by employers at all stages of the reassignment process, starting when an individual indicates an intention to begin reassignment. The Regulations also cover recruitment procedures, vocational training, and discrimination with respect to pay (see equal pay). The Sex Discrimination Act as amended by the Regulations outlaws direct discrimination and provides for employees who are absent from work to undergo treatment to be treated no less favourably than they would be if the absence was due to sickness or personal injury. The protection is extended to postoperative treatment on a transsexual's return to work. Transsexuals are also protected from harassment. There is a defence to a complaint of less favourable treatment if being a man, or a woman, is a genuine occupational requirement for the employment in question. In addition, there are further supplementary exceptions, some of which apply only temporarily while the process of reassignment is continuing. One exception is where the job is likely to involve the holder of the job being called on to perform intimate body searches pursuant to statutory powers (e.g. a police officer). In that case, however, the employer must take into account whether there are already enough employees who are capable of carrying out those duties whom it would be reasonable to employ on those duties. In no case will less favourable treatment be justified under the exceptions where the individual concerned has acquired a Gender Recognition Certificate under the Gender Recognition Act 2004. This allows for legal recognition of the acquired sex, and the person must be treated as being of that sex for all purposes (Goodwin v UK (App no 28957/95) (2002) 35 EHHR 447; Case C-117/01 KB v National Health Service Pensions Agency [2004] IRLR 240 (ECJ).

From:   gender reassignment   in  A Dictionary of Law »

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Definition of gender reassignment noun from the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

gender reassignment

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Nearby words

GENDER ASSIGNMENT

the term used for the classification of an infant at birth as either male or female. Children born with ambiguous genitalia are usually assigned a gender by parents or physicians. See gender reassignment .

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Definition of 'gender reassignment'

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Definition of gender

 (Entry 1 of 3)

The words sex and gender have a long and intertwined history. In the 15th century gender expanded from its use as a term for a grammatical subclass to join sex in referring to either of the two primary biological forms of a species, a meaning sex has had since the 14th century; phrases like "the male sex" and "the female gender" are both grounded in uses established for more than five centuries. In the 20th century sex and gender each acquired new uses. Sex developed its "sexual intercourse" meaning in the early part of the century (now its more common meaning), and a few decades later gender gained a meaning referring to the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex, as in "gender roles." Later in the century, gender also came to have application in two closely related compound terms: gender identity refers to a person's internal sense of being male, female, some combination of male and female, or neither male nor female; gender expression refers to the physical and behavioral manifestations of one's gender identity. By the end of the century gender by itself was being used as a synonym of gender identity .

Among those who study gender and sexuality, a clear delineation between sex and gender is typically prescribed, with sex as the preferred term for biological forms, and gender limited to its meanings involving behavioral, cultural, and psychological traits. In this dichotomy, the terms male and female relate only to biological forms ( sex ), while the terms masculine / masculinity , feminine / femininity , woman / girl , and man / boy relate only to psychological and sociocultural traits ( gender ). This delineation also tends to be observed in technical and medical contexts, with the term sex referring to biological forms in such phrases as sex hormones , sex organs , and biological sex . But in nonmedical and nontechnical contexts, there is no clear delineation, and the status of the words remains complicated. Often when comparisons explicitly between male and female people are made, we see the term gender employed, with that term dominating in such collocations as gender differences , gender gap , gender equality , gender bias , and gender relations . It is likely that gender is applied in such contexts because of its psychological and sociocultural meanings, the word's duality making it dually useful. The fact remains that it is often applied in such cases against the prescribed use.

Usage of sex and gender is by no means settled. For example, while discrimination was far more often paired with sex from the 1960s through the 20th century and into the 21st, the phrase gender discrimination has been steadily increasing in use since the 1980s and is on track to become the dominant collocation. Currently both terms are sometimes employed with their intended synonymy made explicit: sex/gender discrimination , gender (sex) discrimination .

Definition of gender  (Entry 2 of 3)

transitive verb

Definition of gender  (Entry 3 of 3)

Examples of gender in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'gender.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Middle English gendre , from Anglo-French genre, gendre , from Latin gener-, genus birth, race, kind, gender — more at kin

derivative of gender entry 1

Middle English gendren , from Anglo-French gendrer , from Latin generare — more at generate

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

1825, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing gender

• bi - gender
• gender affirmation surgery
• gender - affirming surgery
• gender bender
• gender confirmation surgery
• gender - confirming surgery
• gender dysphoria
• gender expression
• gender fluid
• gender identity
• gender identity disorder
• gender - neutral
• gender nonconforming
• gender reassignment
• gender reassignment surgery
• gender - specific
• gender transition
• grammatical gender
• natural gender
• use / play the race / gender card

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Dictionary Entries Near gender

gendarmerie

gender-affirming surgery

Cite this Entry

“Gender.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gender. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of gender, medical definition, medical definition of gender, more from merriam-webster on gender.

Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for gender

Nglish: Translation of gender for Spanish Speakers

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Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about gender

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