Advocates say conservative states’ push to define gender as ‘biological sex’ would backslide on decade-old language within the UN Advocates say conservative states’ push to define gender as ‘biological sex’ would backslide on decade-old language within the UN A row over the definition of the term “gender” threatens to bog down pivotal talks at the Cop30 climate summit. Before the UN talks in Brazil , hardline conservative states have pushed to define gender as “biological sex” over their