---
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title: Considerations and Guidelines for Capturing Gender-Related Data
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/platform/264-0-0/fields_gender_considerations.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.fields_gender_considerations.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: 9589680f9c5e506989a46516f7a854664d5fdfb84add1c6ecb4c71420420b6ac
description: Capturing demographic information boosts data quality, builds trust, and lets you personalize offerings to retain and attract new customers. But release of gender information could result in safety concerns for individuals or liability issues for your company. It’s important to classify your data correctly so that you can protect it.
products:
  - Salesforce Platform
  - Security
release: "264"
---
# Considerations and Guidelines for Capturing Gender-Related Data

Capturing demographic information boosts data quality, builds trust, and lets you personalize offerings to retain and attract new customers. But release of gender information could result in safety concerns for individuals or liability issues for your company. It’s important to classify your data correctly so that you can protect it.

### Required Editions

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small edition"><colgroup><col></colgroup><tbody><tr class=""><td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">Available in: both Salesforce Classic and Lightning Experience</td></tr><tr class=""><td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">Available in: all editions</td></tr></tbody></table>

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small permission">
      <colgroup>
        <col style="width:50%">
        <col style="width:50%">
      </colgroup>
      <thead class="slds-text-title_caps ">
        <tr class="">
          <th scope="colgroup" class="slds-cell-wrap" colspan="2" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:top;" id="d170938e58">User Permissions
            Needed</th>
        </tr>
      </thead>
      <tbody>
        <tr class="">
          <td data-label="User Permissions Needed" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d170938e58 ">To customize standard fields:</td>

          <td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d170938e58 ">Customize Application</td>

        </tr>
      </tbody>
    </table>

Pronouns and Gender Identity are standard fields on the Lead, Contact, and Person Account objects. Non-binary picklist values on the Salutation field help keep all your data in sync. Before setting up these fields, ask yourself if it’s necessary for your use cases. Discuss your goals with project stakeholders, and take measures to ensure the data can’t inadvertently be used to discriminate. Always review the privacy and legal ramifications with your legal department, and refer to your industry’s standards for guidance.

When you gather pronouns or gender identity data from your customers, follow these guidelines.

- Explain why you’re asking for this specific information.
- Describe how the data is used.
- Offer how it benefits them to share their personal information with you.
- Indicate how their data is protected.
- Give customers an option to opt out.
- Set up data classification levels.
- Manage access to the fields and to the data within them.
- To prevent mismatched data, add custom business processes.

To report on gender-related data, make sure that the top-level object in the report is Contact, Lead, or Person Account. For example, a report with Campaign as the top-level object doesn’t have gender-related fields available.

#### See Also

- [Classify Sensitive Data to Support Data Management Policies](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.data_classification_intro.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Record data sensitivity and compliance categorization at the field level. Data classification can be used to guide decisions around access, reporting, and data compliance.")
- [Store Customers’ Data Privacy Preferences](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.individuals_store_data_privacy.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Store certain data privacy preferences for your customers.")
- [Manage Data Access](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.security_data_access_mgmt.htm&type=5&language=en_US)
- [Ways to Control User Access to Fields](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.customize_layoutoverview.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Use field-level security to control user access to fields. Use page layouts to control the layout and organization of detail and edit pages in Salesforce, the Self-Service Portal, and the Salesforce Customer Portal.")
- [Automate Your Business Processes](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.extend_click_process.htm&language=en_US)