Forms

Gender options for forms

If a form needs gender, offer woman or female, man or male, non-binary, a different term, and prefer not to say, which is the shape of the Australian Bureau of Statistics standard. Most forms do not need it: only 3 of the 280 finished forms counted here ask, and two of those make it optional.

Nuwan Madhusanka · Co-founder

4 min read · Published 21 October 2026

A form that needs to know gender should offer five answers: woman or female, man or male, non-binary, a different term, and prefer not to say. That is the shape of the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ 2020 standard for collecting gender, and it lets everyone answer truthfully or decline. Before adding the question, check whether the form needs it at all: 277 of the 280 finished forms on this site do not ask.

What was counted

The set is the 280 form examples on this site, read on 21 October 2026: intake forms, registrations, applications, bookings, orders, consents and surveys for fictional Australian organisations. A script searched every field label for gender or sex and found four. One is a vet’s form asking for an animal’s breed, colour and sex, which leaves three questions about people. The same script also counted the other demographic questions, so the gender question can be seen next to them.

Three forms ask, and why

The diversity and inclusion survey asks “Your gender” as an optional single choice question with the five options of the ABS standard, worded almost exactly: woman or female, man or male, non-binary, I use a different term, prefer not to say. A diversity survey is the clearest case for asking: the answer is the data.

The patient intake form asks “Gender” as an optional dropdown: female, male, non-binary, prefer to self describe, prefer not to say. A clinic uses it to address the patient correctly and in some cases for clinical reasons, but the visit does not depend on it.

The patient registration form asks “How should your gender be recorded?” and is the only form that requires an answer. Its options include “Different term, and I will tell the doctor” and “Prefer not to say”, so a required question still leaves room to decline. The wording, how should it be recorded, also tells the person what the answer is for.

What the others ask instead

The other 277 forms ask for what they act on. 59 ask for a date of birth, mostly health, child and enrolment forms where age decides eligibility or care. 20 ask for an age or age range. 14 offer a title such as Ms or Mr. Two ask for pronouns, which is often what a business actually wants when it reaches for a gender question: how to address someone.

That ratio matches the rule in Australian Privacy Principle 3: an organisation should collect personal information only if it is reasonably necessary for one or more of its functions or activities. A quote request or a class booking has no use for gender, and asking it adds a question some people find intrusive.

Wording a gender question

Ask only if you will use it, and say why in a short line above the question.
Make it optional, or include prefer not to say if it must be answered.
Use the five standard options in plain words, with “woman or female” and “man or male” so people who think in either term see themselves.
Offer a different term, with a short optional text question after it if you need the word itself.
Ask about sex separately only when there is a clinical or legal reason, and say what it is.
Put it with other personal questions, near the end of a survey.

The UK’s 2021 Census asked sex and gender identity as separate questions for the same reason the ABS standard separates them: they measure different things. The demographic question page covers the rest of the personal details block, and the form privacy notice checklist covers what to tell people about how their answers are used.

In the product

A gender question is a single choice or dropdown field with your own options. There is no Other box with typing space on a choice field, so a different term option that needs the word should be followed by an optional short text field. A conversational form shows a field’s description under the question, which is a good place for the line saying why you ask; a classic form shows descriptions only on upload fields, so put that line in a paragraph above the question. The form field types page lists the fields, and the guide to creating a form with AI shows how to ask for optional demographic questions in a prompt.

Every gender question in the 280 form examples on this site, read on 21 October 2026, set beside the response options of the ABS 2020 standard for gender. No other example asks gender or sex about a person.
Form	Field	Required	Options in order
ABS 2020 standard, gender question	One answer	Not stated	Man or male; Woman or female; Non-binary; I use a different term (please specify); Prefer not to answer
Diversity and inclusion survey	Single choice	No	Woman or female; Man or male; Non-binary; I use a different term; Prefer not to say
Patient intake form	Dropdown	No	Female; Male; Non-binary; Prefer to self describe; Prefer not to say
Patient registration form	Single choice	Yes	Female; Male; Non binary; Different term, and I will tell the doctor; Prefer not to say

A finished example

A diversity and inclusion survey has to measure whether people feel they belong and are treated fairly, then check whether those experiences differ between groups, without forcing anyone to disclose who they are. This template asks belonging and fairness first and puts six demographic questions last, each optional with prefer not to say.

Read the diversity and inclusion survey template with optional demographics last

Questions people ask

Should a form ask for gender at all?

Only when you will use the answer. Australian Privacy Principle 3 lets an organisation collect personal information only when it is reasonably necessary for its functions. A booking or an order rarely needs gender, which is why 277 of the 280 forms here do not ask. A clinic or a diversity survey has a reason, and says what it is.

Should the gender question be required?

Usually not. Two of the three forms here make it optional, and the third, a patient registration, requires an answer but includes prefer not to say, so nobody is forced to disclose. A required question with no way to decline pushes some people to pick an answer that is not true, which defeats the purpose of asking.

What is the difference between sex and gender on a form?

Sex refers to sex characteristics recorded at birth or in medical terms; gender is how a person describes themselves and is known socially. The ABS standard treats them as separate questions. Most forms that need either need gender. A clinic may need both, and should explain why it is asking about sex for clinical reasons.

Should I offer a free text answer for gender?

Yes, as one of the options rather than the only one. All three forms here include a different term option. Where the form builder has no Other box with typing space, follow the option with a short optional text question that asks for the term, or, as the patient registration does, say the person can tell staff instead.

Where should the gender question go?

With the other demographic questions, near the end of a survey and inside the personal details section of an intake form, never as the first question. People answer personal questions more readily once they understand the form, and a survey that opens with demographics loses some respondents before they reach the questions that matter.

Written by

Nuwan Madhusanka · Co-founder

Works across the builders and the export paths: how a form becomes a PDF, how a flyer canvas becomes a print file, and how a signed document carries its audit trail.

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Sources

Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked 21 October 2026.

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