Abstract

Gender information management is becoming an area of increased concern and tension in recent years due to the parallel rise of trans visibility and the increase of government surveillance. With this Article, I aim to provide a structured and principled analytical framework for managing gender information in a manner that is responsive to different institutional contexts. Part I sketches the ethical considerations and principles which guide my recommendations. Whereas ethical considerations are the values which underlie my recommendations—the why—the proposed principles provide us with conceptual tools to bridge the why, when, and how of gender information management. Part II explores four different contexts in which gender information should be gathered and recorded and makes recommendations specific to each of those contexts. These four contexts are: administrative records, special programs, aggregate assessment, and research. Part III sketches how and what—when justified under the recommendations—gender information should be requested, recorded, and recounted.