Why measure identity?
Representatives make decisions guided by their values; shaped by their experience of identity. Understanding the ways in which their experience of the world could impact their decision-making assists in evaluating its procedural fairness and efficacy. It is accepted practice in the Australian Parliament to register citizenship, business and property interests to mitigate the risk of any conflicts of interest. Under this precedent, identifying other characteristics that influence politicians is both reasonable and accepted practice.
In an ideal world the characteristics that signify our difference from one another would not matter; however, we know this not to be the case. Designing a world in which there is true equality of opportunity requires considering the ways in which the lived experience of identity markers create barriers for some and increase access for others. Acknowledging, measuring and understanding identity markers provides extra context to evaluations of representatives’ decision-making.
You can read more about identity in representation here.
How do you measure identity?
Data collection
The initial data collection conducted by The PPProject relied upon public information accessible through the Australian Electoral Commission, Australian Parliament House and Australian Bureau of Statistics. This was supplemented by data available on politicians’ webpages and in the media.
This preliminary data collection specifically seeks publicly available data in alignment with the principled parliamentary responsibility to transparency.
Selecting and defining identity markers
The following identity markers are adapted to the Australian political context from the Diversity Sensitive Parliaments framework developed by Professor Sarah Childs in her 2016 The Good Parliament Report into the UK Parliament.
The diversity sensitive parliaments approach includes gender, sexuality, ethnicity, disability and class.
Identity is fluid and complex; these identity markers are simply those with which we have started this work. We welcome suggestions to refine and improve our metrics.
Gender
Measuring the gender composition of parliamentary bodies is a well-established practice. The Inter-Parliamentary Union maintains a Classification of Women in National Parliaments; in 2016, the Union released the IPU Toolkit for Gender-Sensitive Parliaments to provide a framework for parliamentary audits of gender sensitivity. This Toolkit was developed as a response to Dr Sonia Palmeri’s 2011 Report on Gender Sensitive Parliaments.
Currently, measurements of gender in the Parliament of Australia are limited to the woman/ man gender binary. The PPProject recognises the importance of including non-binary and gender-fluid people in our evaluative framework of gender and looks forward to engaging with stakeholders to ensure this is managed in a sensitive way.
LGBTQ+
Australia’s recent political history and public discussions around LGBTQ+ identifying people is evidence for the need to include members of the queer community in the Parliament of Australia.
Unfortunately, identifying as an LGBTQ+ person may still be dangerous to individuals and groups. The PPProject is aware that this requires a particularly sensitive approach to data collection and only includes individuals that have publicly identified as members of the community in the dataset.
Ethnicity
It is important to not assign ethnicity on external characteristics but rather to use publicly accessible, discrete data. The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ definition of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse communities is the foundation for this approach and narrows ethnicity to:
First Nations Australians
As self-identified and publicly acknowledged.
Place of Birth
Acknowledged in the Parliament of Australia Citizenship Register.
Religious Affiliation
As self-identified and publicly acknowledged.
In comparing the Parliament of Australia to the Australian population the decision was made to include parliamentarians who had not declared a religious affiliation with those who had declared agnosticism.
Living with a Disability
As self-identified and publicly acknowledged. Disability identification may be under-reported given societal stigmas and barriers to access.
Person/s living with a disability is the preferred term by the community it represents.
Class
To define class in an Australian context the starting point is the ABS Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) metric for socio-economic status. The ABS recommends that the metric is adjusted according to context and purpose; in line with the scope of this project The Index of Education and Occupation is the most appropriate measure.
To ensure adequate classification generalisability occupation is defined as primary professional background/ industry; education groups members according to their highest level of qualification.
