{"id":1509,"date":"2018-07-23T08:00:29","date_gmt":"2018-07-23T12:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/?p=1509"},"modified":"2018-07-23T08:00:29","modified_gmt":"2018-07-23T12:00:29","slug":"creating-inclusive-workplaces-for-transgender-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/creating-inclusive-workplaces-for-transgender-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating Inclusive Workplaces for Transgender Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tAnyone who knows a person who has transitioned from one gender identity to another knows the imperative for that person<\/a> of getting alignment between their internal and external gender identity or between their internal gender identity and their external biology. Those of us born \u201ccis gender,\u201d or whose internal gender identity is the same as our external physical body, may find it difficult to understand the challenges for transgender people. As a cisgender woman, I feel myself to be a woman and I was born in a woman\u2019s body. Consequently, I am not confused about my gender identity, and neither is anyone who sees or knows me. I try to imagine the tremendous courage necessary for a trans person to take a stand and announce to friends, family, coworkers, and employees that although they may have known you as a man, you have always felt that you are a woman, vice versa, or neither, and you are choosing now to live as your true self. Whether or not a transgender person undergoes surgery or other medical intervention to physically alter their body to align with their internal identity, they still have a lot to deal with to learn to live as a different gender or as a gender-fluid or gender-nonconforming person. A lack of internal and external alignment or an appearance that does not conform to binary stereotypes of gender can cause confusion, depression, and suicidal thoughts for a person who feels they are \u201cliving a lie.\u201d Rejection by employers for being transgender also means that many transgender people live in poverty.\nAs of 2016, thirty-two states did not have state laws to protect people from being fired for being transgender. An anonymous online 2015 survey of 28,000 adults, age eighteen and older from all fifty states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and United States military bases overseas, revealed widespread poverty and other difficulties for the transgender community, as reported<\/a> by the National Women\u2019s Law Center. The survey found that people who are transgender are twice as likely to be living in poverty as the general US population, with 29 percent living in poverty in 2015, compared to the overall rate of 14 percent across the country. For transgender people of color, the statistics are even worse:\n\n\n