Gender neutrality (adjective form: gender-neutral), also known as gender-neutralism or the gender neutrality movement, describes the idea that policies, language, and other social institutions should avoid distinguishing roles according to people's sex or gender, in order to avoid discrimination arising from the impression that there are social roles for which one gender is more suited than another.
Proponents of gender neutrality may support public policies designed to eliminate gender distinctions, such as gender-neutral bathrooms, with public restrooms being available without distinguishing the gender of the person using them. It has been observed that gender neutrality in the law has changed the nature of custody disputes, making it more likely that men will be awarded custody of their children in the event of a divorce.
The legal definition of gender has been a controversial topic particularly to transgender people; in some countries in order to be legally defined as a new sex people must first undergo sterilization.
An issue related to gender neutrality is the gray areas that exist in gender. Trying to legally define the boundaries of gender has proven a difficult issue with the existence of people who identify or who are identified by others as intersex, third gender, transgender and more generally genderqueer or non-binary.
Someone who identifies as gender blind takes the perspective of gender neutrality in everyday life. Similar to this is pansexuality, where the person is not necessarily totally gender blind, but in their sexual preference they make no distinction between the gender of their sexual partners.