Employment

Abstract

This chapter examines data on employment generated by the 273 FtM transgender Australians in the 2013 E-Males study. The majority of participants (58 %) were working (full-time, part-time or in an apprenticeship). However, 15 % were unemployed—a higher portion than in previous studies on broader populations. The qualitative data revealed there were clear obstacles to employment and promotion for FtM transgender people. These included the fear of coming out as transgender, transphobia both in recruitment and on-site, the desire to avoid work during transition, and uncertainty around the need to reveal gender history in applications. Some workplaces and industries were perceived as more supportive than others, and there were examples of sites with very transphobic masculine work cultures that had compromising impacts even on men who had fully transitioned and “passed” as male. Leadership had a pivotal role in whether workplaces were transphobic or supportive; poor and best-practice examples are described.