Norway’s Labour Party is considering supporting the introduction of a third gender option on official documents, according to broadcaster NRK.
Labour is the largest party in the Norwegian parliament and its draft program for 2017-2021 states that they “shall consider the introduction of a third gender category”.
Labour committee member and leader of the party’s youth wing, Mani Hussaini, says its time the change was introduced.
“I believe that all people should be allowed to live out their identity and thus the law should adapt to reality and not the other way around,” says Hussaini.
“I think that for example in the passport it could show that one is neither male nor female, but belongs to a third category, thus a ‘hen’.”
Sweden adopted the gender-neutral pronoun ‘hen’ in April 2015, as an alternative to gender specific terms he (han in Swedish) and she (hon).
If the change goes ahead, Norway would join countries such as Nepal, New Zealand and Australia that offer a third option on documents such as passports for those who do not identify as male or female.
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