Gender is often described as having three dimensions. First is the physical or biological dimension, which refers to a person's anatomy and assigned sex at birth. Second is a person's identity, which refers to their own internal sense of gender [gender identity]. Finally, is gender expression, or how a person outwardly presents themselves and how that presentation represents and interacts with societal and cultural stereotypes about gender.

Gender identity refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, expressions and identities of girls, women, boys, men, and gender diverse people. It influences how people perceive themselves and each other, how they act and interact. Gender identity is not confined to a binary [girl/woman, boy/man] nor is it static; it exists along a continuum and can change over time. There is considerable diversity in how individuals and groups understand, experience and express gender through the roles they take on, the expectations placed on them, relations with others and the complex ways that gender is institutionalized in society.