SmartRec’s purpose is to connect people with their communities through shared passions and activities. Respecting and safeguarding our users’ privacy is of utmost importance to us. It’s imperative that we do not force users to share any information they prefer not to disclose. We leave it up to the organization to determine the kind of information they request, including when it relates to gender.
Many of our customers have expressed the need to avoid forcing their clients from selecting male or female as a gender. As a result, we have adapted our platform to remove forced prompts for gender. The configuration flexibility continues to exist, but it is no longer a default setting.
How it Works
1. Personal Account Creation
When a user creates a personal account, gender is no longer a necessary field.
Upon creation, a person's gender will not be requested, and the default setting will be designated as 'Not Specified'.
Each individual users’ gender will be an editable field that the user or admin can review and update at any time.
2. Cases when Gender Info will be Prompted
Participants will only be prompted to input their gender if:
An organization has added the question to a form which the participant must fill out.
The participant registers to an activity in which an organization has added gender restrictions.
Admins can toggle the visibility and importance of gender on their registration forms.
3. Gender Options
There are 3 inclusive gender options included in all drop downs:
Not Specified (this is the default setting for those who have not yet selected from the other 3 options).
Male
Female
Prefer not to say
If you are wanting to provide a exhaustive list of options, you can create a customized extra question with your preferred options. However, it is not possible to link an extra question to restrictions. Meaning, if you would like to restrict an ativity by gender, only our default gender question is elligible.
4. Adding Restrictions Based on Gender
If an organization wishes to restrict an activity, membership and/or skill to a specific gender, they will have the option to do so during the configuration phase.
If a participant does not meet the gender requirements, a notification will appear and the client (or admin) will have the ability to edit the applicable profile. Restrictions can be overridden by the administrator.
It is up to the administrator to determine if they allow those who prefer not to say their gender into gender-specific activities.
Restrictions for Activities
When creating or editing an activity you can alter the Restrictions and check off the gender option(s) you would like to restrict the activity to.
Click here to learn more about gender restrictions on activities.
Restrictions for Memberships
When creating or editing a membership you can alter the Restrictions and check off each gender option you would like to restrict the membership to.
Click here to learn more about gender restrictions on memberships.
Restrictions on Skills
Skills can only be assigned by an administrator. Admins cannot override gender restrictions on skills - the person must match the gender (Male, Female or Prefer not to say) of the skill for an admin to assign it to them.
5. Recommendations for Organizations
People often wonder why you need to know their gender, and what you're going to do with this information. Here are some recommendations:
If you require a client's gender to be specified, let them know why you're asking by providing a brief explanation in your activity or membership description.
Avoid requesting information about gender unless you really need to.