Gender exists on a spectrum, according to some...
Gender exists on a spectrum, according to some...iStock

The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated its intention to update its "gender mainstreaming journal" to include, among other things, a recognition that "sex is not limited to male and female."

Its "Gender mainstreaming for health managers: a practical approach" manual seeks to address "health-related discrimination" related to gender, age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.

The manual was first published in 2011 and the WHO now plans to update it "in light of new scientific evidence and conceptual progress on gender, health and development."

Among the updates will be:

- Updating "key concepts around gender"

- Looking at "how gender power dynamics interact with other hierarchies of privilege..."

- "Going beyond non-binary approaches to gender and health to recognize gender and sexual diversity, or the concepts that gender identity exists on a continuum and that sex is not limited to male or female" (boldface in the original).