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Gender Recognition Act reform report authored by NTU researchers

A report on the UK government’s consultation on the reform of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 has been authored by a team of researchers at Nottingham Trent University (NTU).

    Graphic of people with different gender pronouns
    The research team reviewed 102,000 responses and analysed 37 million words

    The consultation sought views on how the government might make the existing legal recognition process a better service for those trans people who wish to use it.

    Responses to the consultation were collated and analysed by a large team of multi-disciplinary NTU researchers, including Professor Daniel King and Dr Maranda Ridgway from Nottingham Business School and Professor Carrie Paechter from the University’s School of Social Sciences.

    The team received 102,000 responses and analysed 37 million words to produce the 56,000-word report, which represents what people said in response to the questions set by the government.

    The government has now published the report, with recommendations including modernising the process, reducing the application fee for a Gender Recognition Certificate and ensuring that transgender people can access the healthcare that they need.

    Daniel King, Professor of Organisation Studies, managed the team of researchers. He said: “The consultation benefited from the resources, variety of expertise and breadth of knowledge available at a large university such as NTU. The process of analysing such a large and complex consultation required efficient project management and the coordination of a multi-disciplinary team of more than 20 colleagues working on different aspects of the analysis, from sociologists to data scientists, and including several gender and LGBTQI+ specialists.”

    Professor Carrie Paechter is Director of the Nottingham Centre for Children, Young People and Families at NTU, and a researcher in identity and childhood, including gender. She provided advice on the data analysis and on the how the terminology and language used by the respondents was reflected in the report.

    Professor Paechter said: “It was clear from analysing the responses how important these issues are to the people they affect. Some people gave very full and emotional responses to the consultation, and we thank them for their openness. We have done our best to fairly reflect all the views which were relevant to the government’s questions.”

    Read more about how the team analysed the response and drafted the report in a blog written by the lead researchers.

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      About Nottingham Trent University

      Nottingham Trent University (NTU) was named University of the Year 2019 in the Guardian University Awards. The award was based on performance and improvement in the Guardian University Guide, retention of students from low-participation areas and attainment of BME students.

      NTU was also the Times Higher Education University of the Year 2017, and The Times and Sunday Times Modern University of the Year 2018. These awards recognise NTU for its high levels of student satisfaction, its quality of teaching, its engagement with employers, and its overall student experience.

      The university has been rated Gold in the Government’s Teaching Excellence Framework – the highest ranking available.

      It is one of the largest UK universities. With nearly 32,000 students and more than 4,000 staff located across four campuses, the University contributes £900m to the UK economy every year. With an international student population of more than 3,000 from around 100 countries, the University prides itself on its global outlook.

      The university is passionate about creating opportunities and its extensive outreach programme is designed to enable NTU to be a vehicle for social mobility. NTU is among the UK’s top five recruiters of students from disadvantaged backgrounds and was awarded University of the Year in the UK Social Mobility Awards 2019.

      A total of 82% of its graduates go on to graduate entry employment or graduate entry education or training within six months of leaving. Student satisfaction is high: NTU achieved an 87% satisfaction score in the 2020 National Student Survey, above the sector average of 83%.

    Published on 22 September 2020
    • Category: Press office; Research; Nottingham Business School; School of Social Sciences