Language wars.(Language)

IN RECENT YEARS, all states and territories have recognised the phenomenon called "gender reassignment". This means that throughout Australia anyone who wants to switch from being male to female or from female to male can now do so legally and have the change recorded on his or her birth certificate. The person concerned does not even have to undergo any surgery. It is enough to simply adopt what the legislators call a "transgender identity" and then fill out the forms. A distinction that was once thought to be irreducibly grounded in biology is now a matter of choice.

In most cases, the governments concerned did not introduce any new laws but amended those coveting birth registrations and/or anti-discrimination provisions. Western Australia went the furthest when in 2001 the government passed the Gender Reassignment Act and established a Gender Reassignment Board. New South Wales, which recognised "transgender" persons in amendments to its anti-discrimination legislation in 1996, changed its Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Regulations in 2001 to include the text of the West Australian act.

What this means is that the word gender, which until recent years was little more than a politically fashionable substitute for sex, has now been enshrined in legislation. Since the number of people directly affected is small, the change is primarily linguistic and symbolic, but no less significant for that.

It is a change that happened surprisingly quickly. Well into the 1980s, the preferred term was still sex. The Hawke government introduced the Sex Discrimination Act in 1984. That is why Pru Goward is still called the Sex Discrimination Commissioner. The Bannon Labor government of South Australia introduced its Sexual Reassignment Act in 1988.

Had a Sex Discrimination Act been initiated today there is no question that Ms Goward would have gender in her title. In the media and most other public discussion, sex has now been largely purged in favour of the newer usage.

For instance, recent newspaper stories report that the Government Insurance Office calculates car insurance risks on "make and age of vehicle, age and gender of owner/drivers"; the Sydney radio station Nova provides "an eclectic mix of music which caters for no particular age or gender"; the new Speedo racing swimsuits "are specific for different strokes as well as gender". Other stories have discussed the "gender pay gap", the "gender reading gap", "gender issues", "gender relations", "gender discrimination", "gender equality", "gender imbalance" and "gender impact statements".

Prime Minister John Howard has himself succumbed. On March 11, announcing a proposal to amend the Sex Discrimination Act, he said it would allow the Catholic Church to "offer gender specific scholarships to encourage men into teaching".