Trans Day of Remembrance is coming up soon on Wednesday, November 20th of this year. Each November 20th is set aside as a day to honor the lives of transgender people who have died in acts of violence. This day was started in 1999 by Gwendolyn Ann Smith to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who lost her life the year before. The goal of this day is to highlight the discrimination and danger that still exists for transgender people all over the world and actively work to end this.
The GC Pride Alliance will be tabling on TDOR in order to show our support of trans people on campus and all over the world. Stop by and write a note of support to the transgender community and pick up a sticker that shows you are an ally to the trans community. While the visibility for trans people in America has increased in recent years, we still have a long way to go to achieve equality for transgender people. Currently, violence against transgender women of color is exceedingly high. The Human Rights Campaign cited that at least 26 transgender or gender nonconforming people were violently killed in 2018, and these were overwhelmingly Black trans women. Click here to view a full list of the 22 transgender people who have been killed so far in 2019. We want to recognize and memorialize them since mainstream media does not give them the attention they deserve. Transgender people are simply trying to live their most authentic lives, like any other human being, but discrimination, ignorance, and harassment leave them vulnerable to extreme hardships. Before we can fully support and advocate for transgender people, we must understand the hardships that they face. Below are some statistics about the transgender community in America. There are at least 700,000 transgender people in the United States, but this is likely a conservative number because of the limited studies on the subject. “Transgender people face a lack of legal protection. While the federal government's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Department of Education have recently taken steps to include transgender people under existing non-discrimination protections, there is still no comprehensive non-discrimination law that includes gender identity.” “In too many cases, this lack of legal protection translates into unemployment for transgender people. The National Transgender Discrimination Survey (NTDS) found that 15 percent of respondents were living in severe poverty (making less than $10,000/year). For transgender people of color, those rates were even higher, with 34 percent of Black and 28 percent of Latina/o respondents reporting a household income of less than $10,000 a year." (Courtesy of the Human Rights Campaign- Understanding the Transgender Community). Barriers to healthcare and identity documentation are also huge issues among the transgender community. Click here to learn more about all of the issues. It is so important that we advocate and support our transgender family because it can literally be a life or death issue. We must honor those who have lost their lives in the fight of equality and the fight to live authentically. We must ask what we can do to help. At GC, some steps you can take to be an ally to the transgender community are by getting Safe Space trained through the HUB, attending Pride meetings every Tuesday at 7 pm, and taking it upon yourself to make sure you are educated on these issues.
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Last night the DPE's held yet another event, this one focusing on gender diversity in the workplace. Scheduled to be in Donahoo lounge, due to a hiccup the event was moved to Peabody Auditorium in Kilpatrick Hall. Now, we know you're thinking that you've heard "gender equality" and "gender diversity" before, probably a hundred times before. But do you really understand what those terms imply? And can you grasp just what that would look like in a workplace setting? Not to worry because we have your answers and last night's information replay right here!
What exactly is gender diversity? Gender diversity is the equal representation of people of all genders in the workplace, and not just cisgender men and women. "That sounds nice and all, but how does gender diversity help me in my business?" Well, we're glad you asked! Gender diversity has a number of benefits, including but not limited to:
What about gender discrimination? To every ray of sunshine, there's a shadow, and discrimination is the shadow for diversity. Gender discrimination is unequal or disadvantageous treatment of an individual or group of individuals based on gender; of this sexual harassment is a form of illegal gender discrimination. When we talk about gender diversity and discrimination not many people think of the transgender and non-binary communities but they've just as much right to be mentioned as do cisgender men and women. Their discrimination can take shape as being outed in the workplace, being called the incorrect name or pronouns, and harassment based on gender expression. Other forms of discrimination can fall under maternity/paternity leave. The U.S. remains the only developed country that doesn’t require paid parental leave where as other developed countries do. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 requires companies with more than 50 employees to provide 12 weeks of unpaid leave for new parents (both maternity and paternity leave). Only about 14% of companies offer paid paternity, and they do this by choice. There are so many other forms of gender discrimination in the workplace that we can't possibly list them all in this single blog post. Keep in mind, however, that you can always go and do research on your own and make sure that you're keeping yourself informed. Thanks for stopping by and spending some time with us and we hope to see you back here next week! |
Diondra FranklinThis DPE will be keeping it 100 every time she takes pen to page, or really fingers to keyboard. Be on the look out every other Saturday for the tea of the week! Archives
February 2020
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