5.1 Gender and Family 1

How gender is identified through our description can easily reflect social and cultural assumptions around expression and identity, in particular binary understandings of gender, conflating sex, gender, and sexuality, or communicating power differentials through gender 2. At the outset, archivists should weigh the necessity of identifying gender and generally defer to gender-neutral language if this information has not been expressed by the subject.

  • When describing trans or gender non-binary individuals, be cautious of descriptive details that might inadvertently reveal their gender history or transition-related information when consent is not given (for example, using a former name in a file title), as this has the potential to harm the individual or put them in danger.

  • Do not use the former name of an individual unless given explicit permission to do so.

  • When unsure what pronouns an individual uses or used, try to avoid pronouns and instead use the individual’s name or a non-gendered descriptor (e.g., the person on the right, the performer, the interviewee). 3

  • Avoid using terms that denote sex as opposed to gender when intending to communicate gender.

Instead of… Consider…
Opposite sex Person of a different gender
Gendered nouns: chairman, freshman, mankind, man-made, manpower Chair, first-year students, humanity, synthetic, workforce
Gendered adjectives: Seminal, emotional (describing women) Influential, describe the effect or impact
Female Woman, girl
Male Man, boy
passing/fooling/pretending/masquerading do not use these terms – they promote the harmful belief that individuals are deceitful in their gender identities. Consider that the term ‘passing’ can be seen to imply that one should desire to look cisgender. In some cases, the term “perceived to be” or “read as” may be appropriate to use when relevant.

For archivist-derived description (as opposed to provided titles, names of organizations, events), if it is important to the context of the record to identify gender, for example the inclusion of women in a particular event, be cautious of assumptions about how individuals identified and consider inclusive syntax such as “appears to include four women and twenty men based on a visual assessment by the archivist”.

Terminology related to family structure and status often assumes gendered roles, for example husband or wife. These terms may be used, however default to gender-neutral language unless you know how the individual you are describing refers to their partner, family member, or loved one. Some examples follow:

Instead of… Consider…
mom / dad / son / daughter / brother / sister parents / children / sibling
wife / husband / girlfriend / boyfriend partner / spouse / significant other
maternity leave parental leave
maiden name birth name

Consider and follow creator language choice for family relationships that are not biological (e.g. retain use of terms such as Auntie, Uncle, chosen family). Consider additional terms related to family structures and types of relationships. Some examples follow:

Instead of… Consider…
given up for adoption placed for adoption / birth parent chose adoption
is adopted was adopted

The full name, alternative name (if consent has been given), and any shortened or pet name of individuals appearing frequently in the records, should be provided whenever possible. Do not assume title and name based on marriage unless this information is not available through any other source (records, biographical entries, obituaries etc.). Do not use the former name of an individual unless given explicit permission to do so. 4

Avoid comments relating to an individual’s marital status or children within biographical sketches unless these are relevant to the context of related records. 5

Keep in mind power dynamics and relationships with regards to gender and family when it comes to the titling of fonds. For more information, see 8.1 Titling of fonds. This also applies to other description scenarios where power dynamics have shaped the relationships between creators. Similar consideration should be applied, and arrangement should follow suit.

Endnotes

  1. The authors have chosen to address gender and sexual orientation as two distinct categories with the acknowledgement that these two aspects of identity sometimes overlap and are discussed together in different cultures and contexts. ↩

  2. See Egale’s resource ‘Genderbread Person’, which identifies components of human identity as gender identity, gender expression, attraction, and assigned sex. ↩

  3. Caitlin Role and Eamon Schlotterback, “DTA Style Guide” (Digital Transgender Archive, Fall 2020), https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qou1h4DLFQEZg4BIvXiEpGy_TI3rDnrJsPXCsRL-Ki8/edit ↩

  4. For additional information and guidance on recording former names, see: The Trans Metadata Collective et al., “Metadata Best Practices for Trans and Gender Diverse Resources” (Zenodo, June 22, 2022), https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6687044 ↩

  5. Danielle Robichaud, “Integrating Equity and Reconciliation Work into Archival Descriptive Practice at the University of Waterloo,” Archivaria 91 (June 2021): 88. https://archivaria.ca/index.php/archivaria/article/view/13789 ↩