How to enable equity for trans women in the workplace

There’s no denying that workplaces have become far more inclusive than they ever were before. However, we still have a long way to go before people from all sectors feel safe and seen. People of color and even women still experience plenty of bias, but from my own experience as a trans woman, it feels at times like society is only at the very beginning of its journey towards acceptance.

Trans women make up the majority of trans people who face consistent discrimination. There are numerous accounts of trans women being laughed out of interviews and personal accounts of being bullied out of their jobs. Statistics show that one in four trans people have lost work due to transphobia.

Harassment, biases, and transmisogyny need to be eradicated from workspaces so trans women can maintain job security and financial freedom.

My personal account

As a transgender woman, I live my life daily in fear of being harassed for who I am. There is this concept of “passing,” where society can barely see transness and a biology we never asked for. I always carried this with me, going out in public and interviewing for jobs. I feared that I’d miss an opportunity based on being who I am.

At the time of my last job search, I hadn’t changed my name or gender marker on my IDs. When speaking with an HR manager and giving my identification, I knew that outing myself was inevitable. Without knowing what biases they may or may not have had, my serenity laid solely in the faith that whatever would happen was meant to be.

While I breathe easy writing this article from a supportive working environment, I never lose sight of other trans women facing daily discrimination on their path to equal employment opportunities.

Here are a few ideas for business leaders on how to create a supportive work environment for trans women.

First step is to fight ignorance

Starting with the basics, a transgender person is somebody whose gender identity doesn’t match their sex at birth. For most of us, it’s knowing that we were born in the wrong body. The majority of us take steps to transition, whether medically, socially, or both.

That’s exactly where management teams and HR leaders should begin with, the very basics. Educating the entire workforce of the what, why and how of transgenderism is a mandatory first step on the path to cultivating tolerance and acceptance. There is a great deal of ignorance among the general public regarding trans people, and this ignorance fuels aggression. As much as I fear, I also feel that people fear me.

The way to disarm this fear and aggression toward trans women is through education; the known is more agreeable than the unknown.

There are many resources you can use to touch upon pronouns, trans identity, and how to be inclusive of your colleagues and employees. There are other ways to educate, including documentaries on the trans experience. You may even choose to host company-wide watch parties and possibly include speakers at these events.

Clean up biases from your recruiting

In order to create a supportive, equal work environment for trans women, you first need to have trans women in your workforce. More times than not, that’s where the problem begins – companies are trapped within their own affinity bias, and the workforce remains homogeneous.

Optimizing your recruiting processes for diversity requires HR teams to undergo internal and external examinations of just how much their sourcing and vetting processes are riddled with biases.

Once you identify biases in your recruiting processes, you need to set in motion a company-wide plan to actively root them out.

Offer field-leveling benefits

Next, make sure that your company offers trans-inclusive benefits programs. While not all trans women medically transition, plenty of us do. That includes taking hormones and having gender-affirming surgeries that help us keep in tune with our bodies and peace of mind.

While discrimination rates against trans people in health care are high, employers have an opportunity to help.

Providing a healthcare plan to level the playing field between transgender and cisgender employees sends a clear message to the entire workforce and potential candidates that your company practices what it preaches.

The hard question that needs to be asked

But before all this, before you start taking steps to make your company a supportive and inclusive workplace for transgender women and men, ask yourself, and your team – are you really open and ready to accept a transgender person into your workforce?

It’s a tough question that requires a hard look inside. But it must be asked and answered with the utmost honesty.

Because if your team isn’t truly ready to treat a transgender woman simply as a woman, just as “another employee,” then you simply aren’t ready to hire one. In this case, everyone will benefit if the actual onboarding of a transgender woman is postponed until you’re 100% ready.

Closing words of hope

It is time for a fundamental change in how trans women are treated in the workplace. Making statements of solidarity isn’t enough; making us feel protected, even welcomed, is long overdue. Analyze your internal biases to find ways to create a more inclusive workspace where trans women aren’t treated as if they’re equals, but actually are equal.

Naomi Loewenstern is a Content Marketing Manager at Joonko with a heavy passion for diversity, equity, and inclusion. As a writer, she’s spent plenty of her career writing on topics that touch upon LGBTQ issues and mental health awareness as well. She’s continuously inspired by the world around her, and that’s why she aims to make it a better place through her work at Joonko as well as her writing, comedy, and art.