Gender is a social construct based on social roles and cultural characteristics that are traditionally - but not exclusively - associated with femininity and masculinity. Gender may or may not correspond to one’s sex and a person who was assigned to a particular gender at birth may not identify with such or with notions of femininity or masculinity. Psychologists, philosophers, and social activists have examined and debated the nature and evolution of gender identity. Social constructivists contend that gender identity and how it is presented are "socially constructed", that is, shaped by social and cultural factors.
Gender identity is a person's perception of themselves as either a man or a woman, a boy or a girl, a combination of a man and a woman, a person who vacillates between those roles, or someone who does not fit into any of those categories, such as non-binary. This is distinguished from biological sex.
The 2010 Equality Act’s concept of gender reassignment was broadened by recent employment case law. Case law has specifically held that gender reassignment can apply to those who identify as "non-binary", or as those who neither identify as male nor female, nor as "gender fluid", or as people whose gender identity is not set. Because of this, employers need to be aware that the concept of gender reassignment is fluid and that it functions on a broad spectrum, much like the idea of gender itself.
