Sex or Gender?
Sex and gender are related but not identical terms. While sex refers to biological characteristics, gender refers to a social understanding. When talking about animals, cells, or genes, „sex“ is almost always the right term. When talking about humans, „sex“ or „gender“ can be accurate – depending on the context. In some cases, the distinction can be tricky and might need further inspection.
For example: If the risk of a medical condition differs due to biological factors, „sex“ might be the appropriate term. If the risk differs due to different behavioural aspects (e.g. differences in dietary) or environmental factors (e.g. differences in the likeliness of an early detection) „gender“ might be more fitting.
Sex and gender are analytical terms and concepts that can not always be definitely distinguished from another. Also, sex and gender can interact and intersect, e.g. in brain research, studying pain or some cases hormone levels.
If it cannot be clearly determined, wether sex or gender is more fitting, the term „sex/gender“ can be used instead to acknowledge the entanglement.
„Sex and gender interact in unexpected ways. Pain, for example, exhibits biological sex differences in the physiology of signalling. Pain also incorporates sociocultural components in how symptoms are reported by women, men and gender-diverse people, and how physicians understand and treat pain according to a patient’s gender.”
Tannenbaum, C., Ellis, R.P., Eyssel, F. et al.
Sex and gender analysis improves science and engineering.
It is also important that neither sex nor gender are only binary categories. In animals, sex includes different types of hermaphrodites next to males and females. In humans, sex and gender can refer to different categories, for example to female, male, inter, trans or non-binary individuals.
“The word sex refers to the biological heterogeneity of organisms. The word gender refers to sociocultural attributions of traits, roles, behaviours and expectations of the sexes. These attributions may vary by society, country, culture, values and individual understanding.“
„Sex refers to biological characteristics that distinguish between male, female, and intersex (in humans) or hermaphrodite (in animals). Gender refers to socio-cultural norms, identities and relations that, together, shape and sanction “feminine” and “masculine” behaviours, and which are complex and change across time and place.“
The „Gendered Innovations“ project by Stanford University provides more information on sex, gender and how both interact.
Diversity?
Diversity refers to a broad range of dimensions to describe the heterogeneity of people. In the research context, this means taking into account the diversity of people and including different perspectives, experiences, and realities.
„Diversity as a criterion in the context of DFG proposals includes – beyond gender – dimensions in which people differ, for example age, religion, ethnicity, sexual identity, culture, health condition, life situation or social status.”
DFG
Incorporating diversity in research means, for example, including different participants in study designs, considering literature, studies, and perspectives of different contexts, reflecting possible effects on different people in the analysis, or how the research results apply to different individuals. This has a direct impact on the effectiveness and quality of the research results as well as a possible generalization of the findings.
For example: This can mean preventing a Eurocentric perspective in the social sciences or taking social factors into account in health research, such as the effect of economic status on health.
These dimensions of diversity may overlap and intersect. For example: In facial recognition technology, the accuracy can depend on gender and race – with algorithms performing worst for darker-skinned women and best for lighter-skinned men.
„Intersectional factors, such as racial or ethnic origin, age, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, or disability, combine with sex and gender to shape a person’s or a group’s experience and social opportunities, thereby influencing the form of discrimination and inequality they encounter.“
European Commission
Fostering diversity in academia and tackeling discrimination is also part of Goethe University’s goals and efforts towards equal opportunities.
You find a definition of ‚Diversity‘ and ‚Diversity Policies‘ at Goethe University on our website.