Students applying to Ontario universities in Fall 2017 will have the option to indicate their gender identity on their application besides the usual “male” or “female” checkboxes.
Ray Darling, the registrar at the University of Waterloo, led the way to make the change happen after a student came to the registrar office and noted their gender identity was neither male or female.
Darling said the office didn’t offer “a suitable alternative” to male and female options on applications at the time.
When he brought the issue to the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre (OUAC) in April, representatives from the 21 Ontario universities supported adding a third gender option to Ontario applications.
“There was really no opposition to the change. I was impressed with how smoothly it went,” he said.
For now, the OUAC chose the term “another gender identity” rather than trying to specifically list all of the gender identities that exist, Darling said.
For Fall 2018, students will be able to self-identify in a free form text field.
Darling said a text box will help provide applicants with a way to “affirm their identity” and assure students “that their university recognizes and values them for who they are.”
The University of Alberta (U of A) Students’ Union also advocated for a similar change on university applications.
Cody Bondarchuk, the previous vice-president (operations and finance) at the students’ union, said he worked with the U of A’s registrar office to add additional options for gender on forms and files.
The updated physical U of A application form now allows students to choose “Another/Prefer Not to Disclose” and is available for students applying to the 2016-17 school year and beyond, according to Bondarchuk.
“The hope is that eventually when a form asks for gender, it will just have a blank space for people to fill in their own identity or leave it blank,” he said. “But because of the metrics of collecting gender data, I understand why they couldn’t do it this year.”
Bondarchuk said other schools should work to include non-binary, transgender, and genderqueer students in their paperwork.
Student associations looking to follow the U of A should partner up with their provincial governments and lobby to amend human rights legislation, he added.
“I just hope that people understand that this is not a case of a marginalized group receiving ‘extra rights,’ but instead making a more level playing field for oppressed people,” he said.
Stacy Moore, a third-year Carleton social work student, said she is gender-fluid and thinks Ontario universities are taking a “step in the right direction” with the application change.
“There needs to be more progress in other institutions within society so that we can have a more inclusive world,” she said.
