“We want the same”: How cis women can support trans women at work

Supporting trans women is easy. It’s rather like supporting every other woman. We want the same life, the same work, the same experience and the same shared values as everyone else.

What we don’t want is to have tokenism, to have meaningless hashtags, and to have performative inclusion. It shouldn’t feel to us as though we’re being given a dog treat if we’re given a space to speak up while trans, a job while trans, an interview while trans.

We’re not begging for scraps. We want our share of the world, and we deserve to have it. We’ll fight for it, and we need support in that fight. Practical support, financial support, and vocal support.

Some ideas

1. Find trans women in your professional speciality and follow them on social media. Amplify their work. Hire them and pay them well.

2. Spend time considering the way your cisgender identity has influenced your life experience and economic opportunities. If you’re struggling, consider whether you’ve thought about it before, and why.

3. Read stories by trans and non-binary authors, both fiction and non-fiction. Expand your understanding of how work and life can be experienced. It’ll likely give you clues into what’s in your power to change.

This article is part of SmartCompany‘s special IWD 2020 edition. It was commissioned and guest-edited by Culture Amp’s Aubrey Blanche.

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