By 2024 or 2025, gender identity will no longer be contained in Dutch national identity cards.
This after the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Ingrid van Engelshoven, announced the decision in a letter to the House of Representatives. This move is actually part of a broader plan from the Ministry, which also includes limiting “unnecessary gender registration”.
This move is expected to counter-check the potential harms caused by gender declaration – e.g. harassment, discrimination and violence – particularly when there is no justification to publish a person’s legal gender at all.
Gender identity will, however, remain on Dutch passports due to European Union regulation.
The removal of information that used to be deemed “important” from IDs is not actually new.
Various countries, for instance, already exclude personal characteristics, such as race, religion or marital status, which could cause more harm than good.
The Netherlands is not the first EU country to do this. In 2013, Germany recognized indeterminate sex by permitting babies born with no clear gender-determining anatomy to be put on the birth register without a male or female classification.
