Intersex gender an option in the coming census

Intersexual people will this year have an opportunity to choose their appropriate gender in this year’s census.

Right below or next to the male (M) or female (F) option, will now feature an intersex segment (I).

This follows an adjustment made by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) after Intersex Persons Society of Kenya (IPSK) recommended the inclusion of intersex option in the gender category.

According to Wikipedia, Intersex people are individuals born with any of several variations in sex characteristics including chromosomes, gonads, sex hormones, or genitals that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit the typical definitions for male or female.”

Registrar of Societies of Kenya recognized intersex people in the year 2018.

As of June last year, 200 people had registered as intersexual with 138 of them being children below 13 years.

In 2016, Nominated Senator and staunch disability advocate Isaac Mwaura asked the parliament to pass a law recognizing the third gender to end discrimination.

He also pushed for allocations of funds to facilitate gender alignment surgery and awareness campaign.

Their inclusion into the coming census is a great achievement owing to the stigma they face in their societies.

South Africa was the first African country to explicitly include intersex people in anti-discrimination law.