Help us make the FRA website better for you!

Take part in a one-to-one session and help us improve the FRA website. It will take about 30 minutes of your time.

YES, I AM INTERESTED NO, I AM NOT INTERESTED

Promising Practice

Introducing questions on sexual orientation and gender identity in the equality module of the Irish General Household Survey and the Census

Equality, non-discrimination and racism
Equality, non-discrimination and racism
For the first time, the Central Statistics Office of Ireland has developed and included questions on gender identity and sexual orientation in the module on equality of the Quarter 1 2019 General Household Survey. After assessing the responses, it is planned to include these questions in the future population census.
Land
Ireland
Type
Operational guidelines
Ensure comprehensiveness
Mainstream equality data
Ensure regular and timely data collection
Enhance validity and reliability
Ensure representativeness
Improve comparability
Ground of discrimination
Gender identity or expression
Sexual orientation
Includes multiple / intersectional discrimination

Promising practice :

QNHS Module on Equality

 

In this page:

Why was the practice needed?

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) recognises the growing demand for information that provides an understanding of the diversity of Irish society. Collecting robust data about sex, gender identity and sexual orientation forms part of this. It also allows members of Irish society to see data that more accurately reflect their identities than is currently available.

The Office has no current experience in collecting data on gender identity and sexual orientation. Therefore, a careful process is needed to ensure that any data it collects are accurate, of high quality and fit for purpose. It was therefore necessary to systematically plan the development of the new survey outputs.

Improving data collection in respect of sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation in Ireland requires a set of appropriate, relevant and easily understood questions to be developed. These are to be included in the General Household Survey (sample survey) and in future Census of Population (post 2021) questionnaires.

How was it implemented?

The Equality Module of the General Household Survey addresses all grounds of discrimination listed in Irish equality legislation: sex and gender identity; civil status; family status; religion, sexual orientation; age; disability; race (including skin colour, nationality, ethnic origin); and membership of the Traveller community.

The new questions on sexual orientation and gender identity were developed through discussion and consultation with all principal national stakeholders, and extensive research of practices. This included testing and future planning, in other EU Member States and worldwide.

The CSO’s questionnaire design unit carried out both cognitive and field testing in October 2018. The outcome of this testing informed questionnaire development and data collection mode, ensuring the validity of the data collected. Due to the sensitive and private nature of the questions on sexual orientation and gender identity, the CSO decided to include them in a self-completion block of the questionnaire.

The questions were included in the Quarter 1 2019 General Household Survey, with a fully representative sample of 9,000 households. The questionnaire is asked of people aged 18 years or over randomly selected in the household. The survey results are weighted to agree with population estimates broken down by age, sex and region. They are also calibrated to nationality totals.

Discrimination in ten areas of life are examined in the survey: In the workplace; Looking for work; In places like shops, pubs or restaurants; Using services of banks, insurance companies or financial institutions; Education; Obtaining housing or accommodation; Accessing health services; Using transport services; Accessing public services; and Any contact with An Garda Síochána’ (National Police of Ireland). The latter category has not been asked in previous Equality modules and has been included in consultation with the Policing Authority.

After the responses to the questions addressing sex, sexual orientation and gender identity have been assessed consideration will be given to including suitable relevant questions in the Census of Population, which as a self-completed questionnaire, requires the highest standards of clarity in the meaning of questions to support response accuracy and quality.

Outputs

Key success factors

  • The consultative process of discussions with all relevant stakeholders, as well as the cognitive and field testing of the questionnaire.

Technical information

  • Data sources covered: Census; Household or individual surveys.
  • Areas of life covered: Employment; Education; Health; Social Protection; Housing and living conditions; Access to good and services; Others: Contact with police.
  • Target audience: Central Statistics Office of Ireland, Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC), Government departments
  • Duration: 3 months of first quarter 2019
  • Geographical scope: National
  • Leading institution: The Central Statistics Office of Ireland
  • Other organisations involved/consulted: Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC), Department of Justice and Equality, Department of Children and Youth Affairs, National Disability Authority (NDA), Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), Pavee Point (Traveller and Roma representative group), and the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI).
  • Financial & human resources: No information provided

Contacts

The Central Statistics Office of Ireland

Email: information (at) cso (dot) ie