Trans Awareness Week
Today marks the start of Trans Awareness Week. Running from 12–19th November, Trans Awareness Week is an international event to help raise the profile of issues faced by members of the transgender and gender non-conforming community.
Whilst attitudes towards and understanding of the trans community has improved in recent years, there’s still a significant way to go before trans people feel the same kind of safety as others from the LGBT+ community.
According to a 2018 government report following a Stonewall survey, 41% of trans men and women stated that they’d experienced a hate crime or incident because of their gender identity in the last 12 months alone. The same survey also found that 25% of trans people had been faced with homelessness.
It’s still unknown just how many people in the UK identify as trans or non-gender conforming, as 67% of respondents to a national survey admitted to keeping their identity secret due to fear of negative reaction. Though recent studies estimate that the figure could be anywhere between 200,000–500,000.
Accord’s Chris Rimell says:
“The trade union movement is built on solidarity, whether it’s supporting other workers or standing up for those that lack political representation. The movement recognises that we are stronger together and that means we must jointly work to remove all forms of oppression, discrimination and inequality in work and society at large.”
Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity, respect and fairness at work — unfortunately, this isn’t the case for all workers. In the past, Accord campaigned for inclusive guidance for trans colleagues and their managers, this has been in place now in Lloyds Banking Group since 2015 and it’s time we encouraged other employers to follow their example. This is one of many things that we’re looking for members to get involved in — if you’re interested, get in touch!
The TUC has produced some advice to mark this years Trans Awareness Week including, how to be a good trans ally at work. A good starting point is to get a good understanding of the issues that the trans community faces, and there are many good resources available to assist. There is also some further advice on being a great trans ally by standing up for political rights and some top tips from some excellent trade unionists on trans inclusion.
You can find out more on the TUC campaign page. You can also follow what’s happening throughout the week using #TransAwarenessWeek.
If you’ve experienced any issues surrounding transphobia at work, or you want to know more about what Accord’s approach to equality, diversity & inclusion, get in touch at equality@accordhq.org .
