TRANSGENDER

Trans POV: Why Does the Bank Need my Gender?

Hint — because it’s stuck in the patriarchy of past

Why does my bank need to know my gender?

What does it matter for my accounts how I identify?

Why do my cards need to have binary titles on them?

When I changed my legal name, I went into the bank to change my name on my accounts and order new cards. That part was surprisingly easy. However, what wasn’t easy was the fact that they had no gender-neutral markers or titles. None.

Choose a binary or NO ACCOUNT FOR YOU!

The selected title (Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms., or Dr. — wow, thanks for the options) is on all of the cards they send out (which also doesn’t seem necessary) so I was forced to choose a binary title to go with my incorrect binary gender, to go on all of my everyday account cards. I had to choose a binary title that would stare at me every time I used a damn card to buy anything. Even my Testogel. And for those thinking it, yes, I did ask if I could leave my gender and title blank and the answer was an emphatic, “No.”

Now, at the time, I was still in the early days of my gender questioning journey. But still, Ms., Mrs., Miss, all felt wrong. So did Mr. And Dr. just felt like a complete lie. They didn’t even have the simple and reasonably popular non-binary choice of Mx.

I couldn’t change my gender marker, nor could I change my title. Well, I could change my title, but I think the bank was already so confused that I just said, “Fine, leave it with what it is now.” I didn’t select anything, I just didn’t change it. So as soon as my new cards turned up in the mail, the first thing I did was put little Batman-style sticker over them. At least they had my real name. So, now, where the title should be, my cards say, “POW”, “ZIP”, and “BANG”.

Now, I’m in a place of firmly knowing that I’m trans-masc non-binary. I use they/them pronouns and the Mx title. Which means I don’t have any options with my bank. I can’t change my gender marker or title to anything that is non-binary.

#NotAllBanks

Not all banks are the same. I’m just talking about my bank. But why do they even need to know what my gender is? What does it have to do with the money I hold in their establishment? My gender shouldn’t have any bearing on whether I have an account, whether I apply for a loan, whether I’m approved for a loan, whether I have any different type of account, whether I have savings, etc. It literally bears no importance for them to know either what my biological sex is, or my gender.

Is it so that they know what to say when they call? No, that’s ridiculous because they never gave me the option to provide them with that correct information. Plus, let’s face it, 99% of the call center staff are going to make an assumption based on what my voice sounds like anyway. I mean, I suppose they could argue that it’s for demographic research. What? For their marketing? So that they know if they need to market to more men or more women? Isn’t that ridiculous in and of itself? Why does it matter whether you have more men or women? Does the money of men and women work differently?

Is it so that they know if they don’t have as many clients of one particular sex? I’m choosing to use ‘sex’ at this point because let’s face it, we’re definitely not talking gender. Does that give them the information they need to adjust their marketing towards the limited sex and attract more people? Again, stupid! Because how are they going to do that? How do they market to women versus men in a non-binary world? At some stage, marketing has to catch up with the fact that the world is changing. Marketing is always targeted at the normative, even when it’s meant for the ‘other’, but again, that’s a whole different article.

I’m still trying to work out why the bank needs to know my gender. I haven’t answered that question for myself yet. I think, and this is just an opinion, that perhaps banks once asked for sex or gender because once, and we’re talking a long time ago, actually not that long ago, it was perfectly legal, and in fact, it was law, that women could not have certain benefits from the bank.

• Women could not have their own accounts
• Women could not run a business
• Women could not get a loan

So is this just leftover legal misogyny? From the days when the normative male had complete control over everyone else? And if so, why the hell do we still have it? Hmm… why indeed.

Why DID the bank need to know your sex?

Let me back it up with a little evidence. In 1974, yes, we’re talking less than 50 years ago, The Equal Credit Opportunity Act in America passed a law to prohibit discrimination in the providing of credit based on gender (Silverberg, 2021). 1974! It was only in the 1960s that women were allowed to even open a bank account in America. So why do banks need to know your sex? Because in the 60's, women weren’t allowed to have bank accounts. That’s why. Can we be done with it now, please?

If you look at so many other institutions that ask for sex and/or gender, the same reasoning applies.

• Why do place of higher education need to know?
• Why do workplaces need to know?
• Why do online stores need to know?
• Why does social media need to know?

Marketing demographics? Hmmm… interesting. Let’s circle back to something I said earlier about marketing to specific clients. Could it be that banks WANT more ‘male’ clients because there is still a global inequality and therefore, ‘males’ bring more dollars to the yard? Just a thought.

The only need for anyone to know what is in anyone’s pants has to do with medical care — and that doesn't mean ALL medical care. It shouldn’t matter until it does. It shouldn’t be asked until it is needed. That little box on most forms, no matter what the form is for, that one that asks if we are ‘male’ or ‘female’, that box that delegates us to either, or, that removes humanity and personal nuance and defines us as either he or she, defines us as normative or other, has nothing to do with gender and everything to do with outdated patriarchal segregation.

But that’s just my thoughts on it.

References: Silverberg, T 2021, The History of Women and Money in the United States in Honor of Women’s History Month, One Advisory Partners, March 7, viewed 20 Oct 2021, https://www.oneadvisorypartners.com/blog/the-history-of-women-and-money-in-the-united-states-in-honor-of-womens-history-month

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