Gender Identity
Gender identity refers to “an individual’s self-conception as a man or woman or as a boy or girl or as some combination of man/boy and woman/girl or as someone fluctuating between man/boy and woman/girl or as someone outside those categories altogether.”[1] It is typically reflected in a person’s clothing, hairstyle, behaviour, tone of voice, among other characteristics. Although hard to pinpoint, it is understood that children are able to classify gender categories and use gender labels in speech between 18-24 months. Further, as they grow up, they are able to better associate stereotypes with gender (such as associating playing with trucks and planes with masculinity or something done by boys) until the age of 5, after which the rigidity of gender roles decreases.[2]
At the same time, it is different from sex with reference to one’s biological characteristics, including their chromosomes, hormones and anatomy.[3] Thus, while individuals are broadly divided into male and female by biological features, the same cannot be said of gender, which is socially constructed. Different societies differentiate between the behaviour and roles of men and women, their appearance and the way they interact with each other.
Sex and gender have both been seen as binaries between male and female, and men and women, respectively. Yet, it has increasingly been recognised that these are not rigid binaries, and individuals exist not only within but also outside them.
Official Definition of Gender Identity
Gender Identity as defined in case laws:
The Supreme Court in National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) v Union of India [4]defined gender identity as “each person’s deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth, including the personal sense of the body which may involve a freely chosen, modification of bodily appearance or functions by medical, surgical or other means and other expressions of gender, including dress, speech and mannerisms.” It further became a landmark judgment in prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity under articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution. Furthermore, the court declared that all citizens have the right to express their gender identity under Article 19(1)(a), which protects freedom of speech and expression.
The court’s findings in NALSA were additionally based upon the court's findings in Navtej Singh Jogar v Union of India,[5] where it stated that the term “sex” in Article 14 covers stereotypical understandings of sex. Prohibition of discrimination based upon sex was then expanded to cover both discrimination based upon gender identity as well as sexual orientation.
Related Terms
To read more about gender identity and sex, refer to:
- ↑ Britannica Editors, ‘Gender Identity’ (Encyclopedia Britannica, January 15, 2026) <https://www.britannica.com/topic/gender-identity>
- ↑ Carol Lynn Martin and Diane N Ruble, Patterns of Gender Development (2010) 16 Annu Rev Psychol. 353–381 <https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.093008.100511>
- ↑ Understanding Transgender People, Gender Identity and Gender Expression’ (American Psychological Association, 2023) <https://www.apa.org/topics/lgbtq/transgender-people-gender-identity-gender-expression>
- ↑ AIR 2014 SC 1863.
- ↑ 2018 1 SCC 791.