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Queering the Gender Binary: Understanding Transgender Workplace Experiences

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Sexual Orientation and Transgender Issues in Organizations

Abstract

While the popular acronym “LGBT” suggests that sexuality-based discrimination and gender-based discrimination are similar in nature, transgender employees face unique challenges in comparison to lesbian, gay and bisexual employees. This chapter outlines existing research pertaining to the status of transgender employees at work, in order to determine appropriate next steps for increasing efforts for transgender equality, both for researchers and practitioners. In order to achieve this goal, this chapter first seeks to highlight the most recent statistics on transgender discrimination, both in society and at work. Then, possible interventions that organizations might put in place to support transgender employees are suggested. Finally, a set of research recommendations are made in order to advance our knowledge about transgender employees in general and to further support workplace interventions for transgender equality. Overall, this chapter provides a comprehensive review of the existing transgender workplace literature and creates suggestions for extending and enhancing this research, in order to best support transgender employees in the workplace.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Villanova University, Villanova, PA, USA

    Katina Sawyer Ph.D.

  2. D’Amore-McKim School of Business, Management and Organizational Development, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA

    Christian Thoroughgood Ph.D.

  3. College of Business Administration, Management, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    Jennica Webster Ph.D.

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  1. Katina Sawyer Ph.D.
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  2. Christian Thoroughgood Ph.D.
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  3. Jennica Webster Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Katina Sawyer Ph.D. .

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  1. Dept of Mgmt, Vienna Univ of Economics & Business, Vienna, Austria

    Thomas Köllen

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Sawyer, K., Thoroughgood, C., Webster, J. (2016). Queering the Gender Binary: Understanding Transgender Workplace Experiences. In: Köllen, T. (eds) Sexual Orientation and Transgender Issues in Organizations. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29623-4_2

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