gender identity

American  

noun

1. a person's inner sense of being male, female, or another gender, usually developed during early childhood as a result of parental rearing practices and societal influences and strengthened during puberty by hormonal changes.

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Sensitive Note

One's gender identity may continue to evolve over time and may diverge from the male/female gender division. See the usage note at gender ¹ .

Example Sentences

Das, who grew up in the eastern state of Odisha, said institutional support for understanding gender identity was already scarce.

From Barron's

Supreme Court decision barring employment discrimination based on gender or gender identity.

From Los Angeles Times

On the other side is the reality that some minors don’t want their parents to know about their gender identity, sometimes because they fear for their safety.

From The Wall Street Journal

The police chief said officers were combing through thousands of the suspect's social media posts, but added that Dorgan's gender identity was "irrelevant to the investigation at this point".

From BBC

It took coming out and years of evaluating my gender identity to uncover the question stirring at the root of my fixation: Do I want Augustus Waters, or do I want to be Augustus Waters?

From Salon