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"Our analysis indicates that employment discrimination against transgender employees is persistent and widespread," the Williams Institute's report states.
Eighty-two percent of transgender Americans say they’ve experienced discrimination or harassment in the workplace at some point in their lives, according to a new study by the Williams Institute, a research center at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law.
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This includes being fired, not hired, not promoted, or being subjected to verbal, physical, or sexual harassment because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The study is based on a survey of 1,902 LGBTQ+ adults in the workforce, including 86 transgender adults, conducted in the summer of 2023. "Our analysis indicates that employment discrimination against transgender employees is persistent and widespread," the report states.
Fifty-three percent had experienced such discrimination within the past five years, while 56 percent reported either verbal, physical, or sexual harassment at work within that period. Forty-seven percent reported workplace discrimination or harassment in the past year, compared to 15 percent of cisgender LGBQ employees and 29 percent of nonbinary employees.
“Many transgender respondents cited examples of being persistently misgendered, deadnamed, asked invasive questions about their body or transition, or harassed for not conforming to traditional binary genders or gender stereotypes,” according to the report.
Trans workers were also more likely to have experienced sexual or physical harassment than cisgender LGBQ employees, to have been treated unfairly at work, or to have heard negative comments about LGBTQ+ people.
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Trans employees were twice as likely as cisgender LGBQ employees to have left a job (67 percent versus 31 percent) because of how they were treated based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Due to the workplace environment at their current job, 29 percent of trans employees have considered leaving. Of those, 79 percent had taken steps toward finding another job.
Fifty-nine percent did report feeling that their current workplace environment was somewhat or very supportive, while 21 percent felt it was somewhat or very unsupportive. Similarly, 62 percent felt somewhat or very satisfied with their current job, and 17 percent were somewhat or very dissatisfied.
“Transgender people attempt to mitigate the discrimination and harassment they experience in the workplace by staying in the closet, covering, downplaying their gender identity, or looking for another job,” the report notes. About one-third of reported that they are not out as being trans to their current supervisor. Seventy-one percent reported engaging in covering behaviors at their current jobs to avoid harassment or discrimination. Thirty-nine percent have changed where, when, or how frequently they use the bathroom, while 46 percent said they changed their voice or mannerisms at work. About a third reported changing how they dressed or their physical appearance.
The majority of transgender adults in the workforce are under 35, and half are people of color. Sixty percent of them make less than $50,000 a year.
“Transgender people are a particularly vulnerable and marginalized group in the workplace,” lead author Brad Sears, founding executive director at the Williams Institute, said in a press release. “Many are not bringing their full selves to work and face unsupportive workplace environments, which makes them less likely to fully invest in their current employer and job.”
The authors suggest that employers and policymakers pay specific attention to the experiences of trans workers and increase outreach to and recruitment of trans people. “Protective workplace policies should be adopted, enforced, and reinforced by supervisors and co-workers,” the report concludes. “Legal protections and workplace policies should specifically address the use of names and pronouns that employees request; transgender employees’ access to bathrooms, lockers, changing rooms, and showers; verbal, physical, and sexual harassment against transgender employees (including invasive questioning and religious proselytizing in the workplace); and discrimination through schedule and shift changes.”
