All passports and driving licenses should be ‘degendered’ to avoid causing problems for transgender people, a senior Conservative politician has said.

Maria Miller, chair of the newly formed women and equalities committee, said ‘male’ and ‘female’ tick-boxes should also be removed from official documents and job applications unless absolutely necessary.

‘As a society and a government we should be looking at ways of trying to strip back talking about gender, and only do that when it’s absolutely necessary. We need to understand that gender stereotyping can be as damaging for men as it can be for women,’ she told The Times newspaper.

‘For individuals who have decided to transition but haven’t necessarily got the right documentation, it can cause problems. Why do we need gender on our driving license? Why do we have to have it on our passport if it doesn’t really add identification? It’s not relevant. Australia has decided to degender their passports.’

Equalities and Human Rights Commission, 1.3% of the UK population is in some way transgender or gender variant.

Miller’s committee will publish its first report on transgender equality next week.