Trans Activist Lily Zheng Pens a Must-Read on Workplace Discrimination

Trans Activist Lily Zheng Pens a Must-Read on Workplace Discrimination Since graduatingStanford University, Lily Zheng 17 M.A. 18 has worked for the DGen Office and as a diversity consultant, and shell soon be publishing herbei first book, coauthored with Alison Ash Fogarty Ph.D. 15, Gender Ambiguity in the Workplace Transgender and Gender-Diverse Discrimination. The book analyzes the struggles that transgender and gender-diverse individuals face in the workplace, drawing on interviews within the trans community.Zheng has been named one of the 10 most influential students in campus politics byStanford Politics, as she offerspractical steps to helpcreate a mora trans-inclusive workplace and positive strategies to help trans employees minimize both overt and unintentionaldiscrimination. Shes even givenworkshops at Google and other organizations on the topic.I caught up with Zheng to learn mora about the general state of workplaces forthe trans communityand the recommendations she share s in her book.1. Can you tell me a little about yourself?I landsee myself as a designer, an advocate, and a boundary-spanner. In my life and in my work, Ive become a trans rolle who works with cis people, a woman who works with men, a queer partie who works with straight people, etc. Im always thinking about my work through of lens of elend what do I want? but instead, where am I needed most? My answers to that question have taken me into organizations large and small where I can help create change that results in more effective, inclusive, and equitable systems.I came out in 2012, just on the cusp of the Transgender Tipping Point. In the absence of other visible trans people in my community, my coming out welches always a struggle between becoming the person I wanted to be and fulfilling peoples expectations for what a good trans person should be like. It welchesnt until I found a trans community at Stanford that I stopped coming out for other peoples sake and began to think about who it welches that I needed to be for my own sake. It was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.Being a queer and trans Asian-American person is like constantly living between worlds. In high school, the students who had the easiest time accepting me were the white LGBTQ+ students. The conflict I was experiencing with my family led me to reject the Asian-American side of me, which felt like a necessarily tradeoff to have my queer and trans identities validated. However, by college I began feeling like my white LGBTQ+ peers couldnt begin to understand my Chinese-American background. That sense of cultural homelessness that I belonged in neither Asian-American spaces nor LGBTQ+ spaces is still one that I struggle with today.2.Can you share some of the particular examples of marginalization, humiliation, bigotry and hostility trans and gender-fluid people experience on the job?Theres such a wide range of discrimination experiences that its hard to know where to start. Some of the people we heard stories from spoke about having their trans status shared with others without their permission. Others were denied jobs or fired explicitly because they were trans one trans woman was told that headhunters wouldnt touch her because they were instructed to avoid candidates with deficiencies. Those who were visibly gender-nonconforming shared stories of overt harassment and hostility One person received rape and death threats. Another, who worked as a teacher, was confronted by parents and accused of trying to brainwash their children. Almost every person talked about microaggressions sidelong glances, micromanaging, accidental misgendering and other little things that cumulatively created a hostile workplace.Many trans people shared that, to escape this discrimination, they chose to hide their trans identities in the workplace. While it often worked, the costs of this strategy fell squarely on the trans persons emotional and mental well-being.3. Have you perso nally experienced workplace discrimination/hostility and, if so, are you comfortable sharing a personal anecdote(s) with our readers?Ive been misgendered in every single workplace Ive worked at. In one workplace, it was a slip of the tongue by a manager that I might not have noticed had it not happened again 10 minutes later. And again 10 minutes after that. In another workplace, it was from a coworker who spent three times as much time apologizing as he did misgendering me. This isnt to say that either of these coworkers had malicious intentions quite the opposite. But neither of them were equipped to deal with a trans employee, and their learning experience was my discrimination experience.4. How did you/your workplace handle the situation?I resolved the situation in the way that would cause me the least trouble moving forward. Each time I assured the person who misgendered me that I wasnt angry, that I didnt hold it personally, and that they werent a bad person. Moving forward, I corrected them matter-of-factly each time they misgendered me in the future and cut off any more conversation on the topic beyond an apology. It was the right thing to do, not because it made me feel great (on the contrary, it took extra work to manage the other persons feelings on top of my own) but because it was the most convenient way to get through the situation and get back to my day. While I know as a trans advocate that putting in this kind of extra work isnt my responsibility, its what Ive learned to do to get through the day. These kinds of everyday compromises are common across many trans peoples work experiences.5. Your book finds common patterns of workplace discrimination what are some of those patterns or commonalities?When looking for common patterns across the many varied stories of workplace discrimination, we prioritized understanding not only what happened, but why it happened. We observed at least three major themes that drove discrimination hegemonic masculi nity is superior, trans status discrimination and just zupflmmel one.The first theme is perhaps the most interesting but takes a bit of explanation to understand. Imagine societys idea of peak masculinity. Maybe to one person it looks like Schwarzenegger, maybe to another it looks like Chris Evans, but across the board a few characteristics stay consistent physically strong, virile, dominant, conventionally attractive, intelligent and wealthy. In the workplace, we see that people who move toward this standard get rewarded in social status, prestige, and respect, while people who move away from it are punished. For example, if someone perceived by others as a feminine woman in the workplace were to get a short haircut and behave in more masculine ways, that person might suddenly start being included in mens conversations. That person might no longer be interrupted during team meetings or overlooked for promotion. On the flip side, if someone perceived by others as a man in the workpl ace began wearing nail polish, makeup, and dresses to work, that person might suddenly start being ignored in conversations. That person might receive more harassment and discrimination or be considered less fit for respected roles in the organization. Why is this relevant? Anyone whose appearance or behavior in the workplaces changes (whether gender transition, new motherhood, midlife crisis, etc.) might be evaluated by and discriminated against according to these hidden rules.The next theme, trans status discrimination, refers simply to the idea that in the workplace being trans is seen as a disadvantage. Some of the people we spoke to told stories of mentioning their trans identities and suddenly having an interview go south or having a previously-friendly manager becoming hostile. Some people told stories where they were explicitly told that being open about their trans identity would hurt them in the workplace, and that they should hide that aspect of themselves. One person, Ka i, told us how he had been formally offered a job, only to have that offer rescinded to his face when his employer found his legal gender to read F.The last theme, just pick one, describes the power of the gender binary in the workplace. Trans and gender-diverse people who dont appear to be firmly on one side or the other of the binary receive extraordinary pressure to pick either man or woman, and conform to strict ideas of manhood and womanhood. One person we spoke to, Sawyer, was told by a hiring manager that he needed to pick a set of pronouns to be referred to by either he/him or she/her. When Sawyer shrugged and answered, either is fine, the hiring manager was unyielding. You need to pick one, she said.6. What tolls does this kind of discrimination take on gender non-binary people and their workplaces?For people who identify as neither men nor women, including genderfluid people who may identify as both at some point or another, discrimination typically takes the form of gend er policing when others in the workplace pressure trans and gender-diverse people to change the way they look or act to conform with the gender binary. We talked to a genderqueer person named Rowan who described how they were constantly needled by their HR manager to avoid wearing dresses at company functions, to the point Rowan decided to leave that workplace. Rowans story is indicative of a major challenge faced by those who identify as or appear to be gender-nonconforming balancing authenticity with the need to keep a job. Those who choose authenticity must deal with prejudice and discrimination that restricts their job opportunities, while those who choose their jobs must deal with the frustration, anxiety, and other mental health challenges that come from suppressing an important part of themselves. When organizations are unable to create inclusive environments for their trans and gender-diverse employees, lose-lose choices become the norm.7. In your book you identify some of the problems and also offer steps to helpcreate a more trans-inclusive workplace can you share some of those steps with our readers?A trans-inclusive workplace is able to do several things, including 1) effectively support employees whose needs vary/change over time through policy, 2) empower and respect self-expression, boundary-setting, and individual needs, and 3) evolve in response to changing social, cultural, economic, and political conditions in a way that is transparent and integrates employee feedback. To achieve these things, a workplace must invest in both inclusive leadership and inclusive culture on every level of the organization.C-Level executives have a key role of championing diversity and inclusion from the top-down, and modeling inclusive behavior in the way they represent the organization to others. C-Level executives know they are succeeding when they have created a brand and a reputation that draws trans people to the organization. Human Resources have the rol e of creating inclusion from the bottom-up through the hiring process, orientation, and community-building. HR knows it is succeeding when new hires exit the orientation process feeling excited to contribute to the organizations culture.What is less obvious is that neither C-Level execs or HR do the heavy lifting when it comes to inclusion culture. The unsung heroes of inclusion work are the middle managers. Middle managers role is especially powerful because of how unglamorous it is. When employees are immersed in the everyday functioning of their team or unit, the razzle-dazzle of new employee orientation or an external talk are gone. In these moments, an inclusive manager has the incredible power to signal whether the organizations inclusion culture is the real deal, or nothing more than hot air. In the experiences of people we spoke to, the most effective way to counter the everyday reality of discrimination was with an everyday reality of inclusion. The small acts of friendship , kindness, camaraderie and allyship enabled by a manager who caredwere some of the most impactful factors in creating an inclusive workplace environment. An organization knows it is succeeding when its middle managers are succeeding.9. What do you hope readers will take away from your book?I hope readers will look closely at the stories. Too often our only exposure to the reality of trans and gender-diverse discrimination is through numbers and percentages, grim statistics that cant portray the complex narratives behind trans discrimination. When we see the three-dimension portrayals of the real people behind every experience of discrimination, we start to understand why inclusion is so important. This layer of humanity also gives new meaning to efforts to creating social change. I found that, while I could easily articulate some of the major problems facing trans communities, it was harder for me to answer the question How would Jessies workplace have needed to act differently fo r Jessie to still be employed there? Or How might Caseys approach to work differed if all of his past workplaces had treated him well?Finally, I hope readers read this book not only to understand more about the trans and gender-diverse community, but also to understand more about themselves. Gender is by no means an experience unique to the people we talk about in this book its a global experience that connects all of us. I want readers to know that when theyre reading about trans men, trans women, nonbinary people, and others, theyre stories of people dealing with the very same gendered systems we all are, every day. Weve all, at some point or another, questioned what it means to be a man, or a woman, or whatever we are. It is my hope that these stories can be conduits for not only empathy but also introspection.--AnnaMarie Houlis is a multimedia journalist and an adventure aficionado with a keen cultural curiosity and an affinity for solotravel. Shes an editor by day and a travel blogger at HerReport.org by night.