3 ms·

Do Polish passports encode gender? I'd expect passports to encode biological sex.

defrost 3y ago
Australian passports are 3 value, M,F,X (for other) as some people are born biologicaly intersex (there are a few hundred such in Australia) and in such cases either M or F are just wrong. Australian birth certificates do a similar thing .. and Polish birth certificates and passports for those born oversees are supposed (see gov.pl site) to reproduce exactly what is on the foreign birth certificates and passports. As the GP comment notes, supposedly invarient assumptions can bite programmers in the ass.
- vidarh 3y ago
  Assumptions is also one of the reasons for a long-lasting trend towards reducing the information on passports where it risks misleading. E.g. my first passport had hair colour and eye colour, and a colour photo. The hair colour and eye colour was removed because it was increasingly just confusing and unreliable, and the photo is now black and white. I'd expect gender/sex to eventually be emphasised or removed too, for the same reason - it's not particularly helpful as a means of ID'ing you unless you do a medical examination.
- HeatrayEnjoyer 3y ago
  US passports are M, F, X as well. Intersex/NB/GNC individuals like myself aren't accurately represented with only M/F.
  - wizzwizz4 3y ago
    The UK is dragging its heels on this kind of thing. https://infosec.exchange/@ryanc/112334233396294602 https://infosec.exchange/@ryanc/112334233396294602 > I moved to the UK five years ago. My birth certificate and passport list my sex as Nonbinary/X. My application for legal gender recognition was granted two years ago, but then things got weird... I had to take the government to court. For some reason, the government is refusing to issue the documents they've granted the applications for. Per https://www.leighday.co.uk/news/news/2024-news/nonbinary-us-citizen-granted-permission-to-appeal-ruling-over-gender-recognition-certificate/ https://www.leighday.co.uk/news/news/2024-news/nonbinary-us-..., the High Court has ruled that this is discriminatory, but that the government is allowed to discriminate against non-binary people. The case is due before the Court of Appeal at some point in the future. Up-to-date info can be found at https://enby.org.uk/ https://enby.org.uk/ (currently a GoFundMe redirect).
miki123211 3y ago
No idea what passports do, but the internal documents do encode what English calls gender, which is, admittedly, very difficult to change. Polish doesn't really have this distinction, there's one word we use for both, and more descriptive terms are needed if you actually need to be specific.

Australian passports are 3 value, M,F,X (for other) as some people are born biologicaly intersex (there are a few hundred such in Australia) and in such cases either M or F are just wrong. Australian birth certificates do a similar thing .. and Polish birth certificates and passports for those born oversees are supposed (see gov.pl site) to reproduce exactly what is on the foreign birth certificates and passports. As the GP comment notes, supposedly invarient assumptions can bite programmers in the ass.

vidarh 3y ago
Assumptions is also one of the reasons for a long-lasting trend towards reducing the information on passports where it risks misleading. E.g. my first passport had hair colour and eye colour, and a colour photo. The hair colour and eye colour was removed because it was increasingly just confusing and unreliable, and the photo is now black and white. I'd expect gender/sex to eventually be emphasised or removed too, for the same reason - it's not particularly helpful as a means of ID'ing you unless you do a medical examination.
HeatrayEnjoyer 3y ago
US passports are M, F, X as well. Intersex/NB/GNC individuals like myself aren't accurately represented with only M/F.
- wizzwizz4 3y ago
  The UK is dragging its heels on this kind of thing. https://infosec.exchange/@ryanc/112334233396294602 https://infosec.exchange/@ryanc/112334233396294602 > I moved to the UK five years ago. My birth certificate and passport list my sex as Nonbinary/X. My application for legal gender recognition was granted two years ago, but then things got weird... I had to take the government to court. For some reason, the government is refusing to issue the documents they've granted the applications for. Per https://www.leighday.co.uk/news/news/2024-news/nonbinary-us-citizen-granted-permission-to-appeal-ruling-over-gender-recognition-certificate/ https://www.leighday.co.uk/news/news/2024-news/nonbinary-us-..., the High Court has ruled that this is discriminatory, but that the government is allowed to discriminate against non-binary people. The case is due before the Court of Appeal at some point in the future. Up-to-date info can be found at https://enby.org.uk/ https://enby.org.uk/ (currently a GoFundMe redirect).

miki123211 3y ago

No idea what passports do, but the internal documents do encode what English calls gender, which is, admittedly, very difficult to change. Polish doesn't really have this distinction, there's one word we use for both, and more descriptive terms are needed if you actually need to be specific.