Resource Diversity, Equity + Inclusion

Gender-Inclusive Data Collection in the City of Boston: A Digital Service Network Spotlight

The Digital Service Network (DSN) spoke with Chief Digital Officer (CDO) Julia Gutiérrez of the Digital Services (DS) Team in the Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT) and Chief Mariangely Solís Cervera of Boston’s Equity and Inclusion Cabinet.

Organizations: Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation, Digital Service Network

Authors: Louisa Sholar, Colleen Pulawski

Published Year: 2023

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DSN Spotlights are short-form project profiles that feature exciting work happening across our network of digital government practitioners. Spotlights celebrate our members’ stories, lift up actionable takeaways for other practitioners, and put the examples we host in the Digital Government Hub in context.

Mayor Michelle Wu has a vision to create a “Boston for everyone.” Part of the work to make this vision a reality includes changing how the City asks residents about gender with an eye toward greater inclusion. “Right now, we ask residents about gender identity to deliver key services,” the announcement for the work states. “But when we ask, we often aren’t using language that represents all gender identities and may not even need gender identity to deliver some of these services. We want to understand how to ask about gender identity in an accessible, affirming, and safe way.”

This effort stems from an ordinance Mayor Wu helped pass as a city councilmember in 2020, which stipulates that the City must ensure all forms — existing and future — include a third, non-binary gender identification option, to be marked as “X.” The implementation of the ordinance thus far has embraced its original spirit of inclusivity, while promoting changes to gender-based data collection practices that are human-centered and resident-driven.  

To learn more, the Digital Service Network (DSN) spoke with Chief Digital Officer (CDO) Julia Gutiérrez of the Digital Services (DS) Team in the Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT) and Chief Mariangely Solís Cervera of Boston’s Equity and Inclusion Cabinet.