Putting gender on the agenda with HIF.
Thousands of people identify as neither male nor female, including gender-fluid celebrities such as Ruby Rose, Miley Cyrus, and Tilda Swinton.
In a first for the Australian health insurance industry, HIF has made the decision to update all of its member firms and data to include a third gender category.
By enabling a third gender option on all contact points, new members are offered a greater choice in how they choose to identify. Other Australian organisations, including the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Passport Office, have also extended identity options to include female, male, or other.
According to Managing Director Graeme Gibson, the decision was made following feedback from the LGBTI community. “We understand that people who identify as neither male nor female currently feel unaccommodated by service providers and we wanted to respond,” he said.
Victorian research has shown that one-third of Australian transgender people currently identify as neither male nor female. Adding a third gender will allow the alleviation of potential stress for HIF members that do not identify as male or female.
Members can select the “other” gender option if they do not identify as male nor female, or if a member identifies as agender, androgyne, bigender, gender fluid, intersex, neutrois, non-binary, pangender or transgender.
Along with introducing a third gender option, HIF is also introducing a new title option to give members more of a choice when it comes to their title. Mx (pronounced “Mux”) is offered for people who do not identify with traditional titles such as Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms, Prof, Dr, or Rev.
“At HIF we’re firm supporters of equality and we strive to make things as easy as possible for all our members. If by making these progressive changes, we make those who don’t identify with a gender feel properly recognised and more comfortable then we feel it’s been very worthwhile. “
Mr Gibson added that HIF is extremely proud of being the first health insurance fund in Australia to provide a third gender option.
To learn more about HIF, click here.
