A significant majority of Scotland's Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) have declined to state their sex in response to a recent diversity survey conducted by the Scottish Parliament.
Out of the 129 MSPs, only 62 responded to the survey. Of those who responded, 31 identified as male and 25 as female. The sex of the remaining 73 MSPs is listed as 'undisclosed' on the official parliamentary website. This figure includes six individuals who responded to the survey but did not give consent for their sex to be published.
The survey was initiated by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body as part of a gender-sensitive audit (GSA). Its stated aims were to provide transparency for the public seeking specific representatives and for equalities monitoring.
Marion Calder, a director of For Women Scotland, criticized the parliament's approach, calling it 'ridiculous' and an 'embarrassment.' She argued that sex is not private information and that the refusal to disclose it hinders public access to information, particularly for those wishing to identify female MSPs for specific purposes.
The survey deadline was initially June 5, but it was extended to June 23 with reminders issued. The updated information appeared on the Scottish Parliament website on Monday.
The 'undisclosed' category for sex includes all 15 Green MSPs, 35 from the Scottish National Party (SNP), four from Labour, six Conservatives, eight from Reform, and five Liberal Democrats. No MSPs consented to having their trans status published.
Lorna Hunter, Director of People, Communications and Inclusion at the Scottish Parliament, noted in an email to MSPs that despite cross-party agreement on the GSA, there is a lack of consensus on implementing its recommendations. She suggested this indicates potential difficulties in publishing further diversity data on other protected characteristics and could complicate efforts to track and address under-representation.