Gathering this by employers is part of US federal law. It is also passed to your insurer, and used to do... insurance things invisibly. Gathering this by compa

Gathering this by employers is part of US federal law. It is also passed to your insurer, and used to do... insurance things invisibly. Gathering this by companies is so they can better profile you and serve you tailored content (as defined by them.) E.g. If you respond "Man", they might want to send you fewer ads for tampons and more ads for razors or whatever. Note, I'm not saying this is a good thing, but it's the reasoning.