Gender includes the social, psychological, cultural and behavioral aspects of being a specific gender identity (e.g. being a man, woman, trans man, trans woman, nonbinary, or another gender). A person’s gender may be different from their legal sex.

At UW Madison we prefer to use the term Gender to be more inclusive rather than 'Gender Identity' which has historically only been used for non-cisgender individuals. For example, data collection forms should ask “What is your gender?” rather than “What gender do you identify as?”.

Definition provided by the Data Guidelines for Legal Sex and Gender, endorsed by the Data Governance Council Feb 20, 2024 and published at https://uwmadison.box.com/s/8m8ibkv81kxbmkl5ijafbpkm2onicnms