Trans men doing gender at work

This study draws on four longitudinal case studies of transgender individuals with an ethnic minority background that undergo a gender transition while being in employment in the Netherlands. Four individuals were each interviewed four times over a period of 2 years. They were asked to make sense of their experience using a narrative approach. Using an intersectional lens, the findings reveal that non‐White transgender individuals experience intersectional invisibility and intersectional hypervisibility in a dynamic and ongoing way, which influences their experiences and concurrently fosters and hinders their gender expression as they go through a gender transition while being in employment. More specifically, we build on the literature on managing (in)visibility by showing how transgender individuals with an ethnic minority background manage their (in)visibility in a dynamic and sometimes strategic way in which they reflect on the perceived consequences of their (in)visibility and then adjust their gender expression and/or strategy to elicit more positive outcomes for themselves. Practical and theoretical implications as well as suggestions to enhance our understanding of this understudied population at work and create a more inclusive work environment are presented.

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 64%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intersectional (in)visibility of transgender individuals with an ethnic minority background throughout a gender transition: Four longitudinal case studies

Hennekam

Dumazert

2023

“…These studies have mostly investigated how transgender people experience work (Ashraf et al, 2021;Pullen et al, 2016), but little is known about how the work that transgender and gender diverse people perform is constructed through public discourses. Delving into a previously well-recognized notion of work being a regulating mechanism for gender (Ashraf et al, 2021;Jeanes & Janes, 2021;Vayreda et al, 2019), we suggest instead that this discursive construction is an important part of heteronormative regulatory processes of identification. Our analysis thus explores how the relationship between gender and work is constituted by a particular type of public discourse, that is, the media.…”

Section: The Regulatory Process Of Identificationmentioning

confidence: 76%

Constructing subjects that matter: A case of conditional recognition for Pakistani Khawajasiras

Awan

Pianezzi

2023

This paper examines how media discourses on gender and work play a part in regulating the lives of a community of Pakistani gender diverse people, called Khawajasiras. Developing a critical discourse analysis of media news, we show how this regulatory process results in discursive mechanisms positioning Khawajasiras' work as “dirty” and in need of “respectable” and exclusively “feminine” alternatives. This regulatory process revolves around delegitimizing Khawajasiras' non‐normative work and their gender fluidity in the job market. Khawajasiras' recognition is thus conditional upon their reproduction of a socially heteronormative notion of work and gender. We conclude that this regulatory process not only forecloses possibilities of resignification for this historically disenfranchised community but also risks producing new forms of abjection by enforcing notions of “fake” (with an implicitly assumed notion of “authentic”) Khawajasira. The findings of this paper ultimately problematize contemporary ideals of recognition of non‐normative gendered groups.

“…In doing so, they may hide atypical aspects of their character, bodies, and personal backgrounds, fearing that such atypicality may lead to their stigmatization and loss of social worth (Ragins, 2008). Exploring the idea of passing from the Goffmanian perspective would mean that individuals may choose to pass and perform expected sexual orientation and gender identity roles to enhance their stakes and to avoid stigmatization and harm at work and in life (Jeanes & Janes, 2021).…”

Section: Goffmanian Approach To Passingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Passing as resistance through a Goffmanian approach: Normalized, defensive, strategic, and instrumental passing when LGBTQ+ individuals encounter institutions

Özbilgin

Erbil

Baykut

et al. 2022

Passing and coming out are two divergent individual strategies historically associated with the LGBTQ+ community as they struggle to fit in with normative expectations at work and in life. While coming out has gradually become more common in organizations and national contexts that offer safeguards for LGBTQ+ individuals, passing remains an option where no such measures are available. Drawing on interviews with working-class LGBTQ+ individuals in a country with an adversarial context, that is, Turkey, we identify how varieties of passing, defined as acting and appearing to fit with the dominant sexual orientation and gender identity norms, are used as strategies of coping with institutional norms. Working-class LGBTQ+ individuals are an important group to study as many draw their pride, power, and identity from their engagement with work and the labor market. Transcending the monolithic accounts of passing, we illustrate four variants of passing (i.e., normalized, defensive, strategic, and instrumental passing) that LGBTQ+ individuals deploy at work. Reflecting on the field study findings, we explicate how and why LGBTQ+ individuals choose to pass at work in each case.