1. GENDER TRANSFORMATIONS
The coming decade will see a re-gendering of the world: a shift from static male/female categories to an unprecedented gender fluidity. Personal traits traditionally associated with gender norms will be uncoupled from those norms, creating a new set of building blocks for the construction of personal identity. This new flexibility will create new ways of living and thinking, changing everything from consumer segmentation to the politics of the workplace.
A decade from now, gender will not be a category assigned at birth but a vast landscape for personal identity creation.

2. WHAT‘S DRIVING THIS FORECAST
Growing genetic and molecular-scale science in support of a spectrum of gender-related traits
An explosion of new, often contested vocabulary— genderqueer, demisexual, ciswoman/man, heteroflexible, bi- gender, or gender-neutral, for example—for describing an experience that as yet has no assigned words to describe it
Ongoing evolution of gender roles within the family and workforce
Growing acceptance of body modification, from piercings and tattoos to medications to plastic surgeries
Health insurance coverage of sexual reassignment surgeries

3. UNGENDERED FASHIONS
Fashion-forward stores revamp their merchandising to be gender- neutral, abandoning gender-defined spaces for fashions, cosmetics, and jewelry
SIGNAL: London’s Selfridge & Company recently announced it is abandoning gendered floor displays in favor of three floors of gender-neutral fashions and cosmetics
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SO WHAT: The ungendering of consumer goods and retail spaces opens the door beyond gender-neutral styles to a proliferation of new gender categories and styles

4. UNGENDERED INFRASTRUCTURE
An explosion of technological, legal, and architectural changes respond to—and enable—new gender identities and experiences
SIGNAL: Facebook offered 58 gender options for users to choose from when setting up their profiles until it decided to open the field to self-defined genders
SO WHAT: Safe “trans-friendly” online spaces pave the way for safer physical spaces, such as gender-neutral bathrooms, and drive an eruption of paperwork changes in bureaucracies, from schools to the workplace
Image source: facebook.com

5. YOUTH REVOLUTION
Schools, from elementary to university, are the frontline for new gender exploration supporting everything from transgender roommates to hormone therapy
SIGNAL: In 2014, Blake Brockington became the first transgender student to be elected homecoming king in North Carolina
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SO WHAT: A new generation of kids grows into adulthood feeling comfortable with a wider range of gender affiliations and expressions

6. THE NEXT FIVE YEARS
Public institutions and progressive companies adopt gender-neutral and trans-friendly policies, retrofitting processes and places to make them gender-neutral
Legislation gives transgender people equal rights even as backlash grows in religious communities, schools, and public spaces
Companies explore new kinds of consumer products and marketing strategies alongside the growing representation of gender diversity in popular culture
Gender-defined institutions such as sports teams confront dilemmas raised by the replacement of binary gender definitions with a gender spectrum

7. TEN-YEAR SCENARIO
In 2025, gender is on its way to becoming as malleable as hair and eye color. From fitness training to fashion shopping, from health care to professional development, people are targeting finely nuanced and personalized visions of their gendered selves. These visions give rise to continually shifting gender fads, creating a wide range of popular culture expressions linked not just to body arts, but also to music, art, and even interior design. These expressions are contextual, often changing as we move from work to play, and from product category to product category. Closer to the core of human relationships, gender experimentation changes the way we partner and parent. Meanwhile a vast legacy of gender-based data struggles to keep up with the shifting realities of our gender experience.