Gender identity options updated at OC

Okanagan College is committed to making all feel welcomed, and has been actively identifying and eliminating barriers to inclusion. One area identified involved students’ gender identity on the application for admission.

"Gender identity" refers to a person’s internal sense of being a woman, man, both, neither or somewhere along the gender spectrum. It influences how people perceive themselves and each other, how they act and interact, and the distribution of power and resources in society.

Working with IT Services, the Registrar’s Office has now implemented new language on the domestic application for admission as well as in the Banner system that allows students to select more inclusive options for gender identity. The new selections reflect approved language from the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Training, and will look like the following:

Please indicate your gender:

• Woman (people whose current gender is woman. This includes cisgender and transgender people who are women.)
• Man (people whose current gender is man. This includes cisgender and transgender people who are men.)
• Non-Binary Gender (people whose current gender is not exclusively a woman or man. This includes people who do not have one gender, have no gender, are gender fluid, or are Two-Spirit.)
• Prefer not to answer

Would you say you are:

• Cisgender (People whose sex assigned at birth is the same as their gender.)
• Transgender (People whose sex assigned at birth is different from their gender.)
• Prefer not to answer

Applicants will see the new language on the online application on EducationPlannerBC. Our Banner system has been updated to be able to store these choices and we will send out more detailed information to Banner users shortly. The Registrar’s Office is also solidifying processes around updating/changing one’s gender identity after application and at this point, we will accept any change request made in writing, i.e. via email, without any additional documentation required. The same language will be included on the International application for admission as part of next steps.

Planning is underway to expand gender identity selections for employees as well.

For more on equity, diversity, inclusion and social justice (EDISJ) at Okanagan College, please visit www.okanagan.bc.ca/edisj