What is gender identity?

Health24.com – Adapted from Gender Identity – An Information Booklet For Transgender People In Scotland and Their Families and Friends

When a child is born, the midwife or doctor looks at the baby’s genitals and declares it a boy or a girl accordingly. In most cases, this method of assigning gender at birth fits the person without any problems. However, a person’s gender is actually quite complicated and as a result this simple method of assigning gender doesn’t always work.

A small number of people find the gender they are assigned does not match their gender identity – that is, their internal sense of where they exist in relation to being boys/men or girls/women.