The change is being seen as the country’s first legal acknowledgement that it is possible for a human being to be neither male or female – which could have far-reaching consequences in many legal areas.

While transsexuals – people born of one gender who feel they belong to the other and wish to be recognised as such — are already legally recognised in Germany, hermaphrodites – those with both male and female genitalia – have always been forcibly registered as one or other gender at birth.