I went for a job interview this morning with the local office of a national community group. I have volunteered for them for a few years but this was the first time I'd applied for a paid position. It was also the first time I'd been interviewed for a job since 1987!
I knew all three members of the panel and they knew me, or at least they thought they did. I have been careful not to mention TG issues so as not to generate unwelcome questions, my volunteering there has enhanced my CV and prevented a huge gap being obvious. I have no wish to risk that, not now.
One question that arose however was that of equality and discrimination. The national organisation has a very clear non-discriminatory policy that all the branches are expected to follow. As I was liable to work with the public, I had to know the policy too. They asked me to give an example.
I those the issue of a TG client who presents themselves as male yet uses a female name and pronouns. Simple, respect their gender choice. The panel probably weren't expecting that.
I find out on Monday if I have the job. I'll be in the office anyway trying to persuade a server to behave. We might even be on the third install of Server 2011 by then.
Shiraz
I'll cross my fingers for you.
Hey Topsy,
Best of luck to you.
with love,
Hope
with love,
Hope
Best wishes on your job.
This question of equality is something that most people never really get to confront. Even if one is a male in a male work group, some of the men think that they are more equal than others, and certainly more equal than women. A similar phenomina happens in women's work groups, but I think that for the most part, women are generally nicer to each other.
I do hope that society in general will eventually tumble to the idea that a trans person needs dignity also. One thing that MtF folk seem to have trouble with is that when a woman is in a male group, she either will not be treated equally, or she will have to fight for it, but not in a way that is seen as male conduct by the males.
This afternoon, I was discussing my putting in a kitchen exhaust with my Landlord, and the rest of my roommates, a woman and a man were there also. Interestingly, the landlord had a tendency to talk to my male roomate rather than me, in spite of the fact that I have all the expertise. I just stayed sweet, as always, and answered questions without getting too forceful, but I could feel the tendency to discount what I said.
These situations are very interesting and I do not win them all, but for me, I want to conduct myself as a woman much more than I want to get sawdust in my hair.
Gwendolyn
Interesting
I had a similar experience. I took a faulty CD player back to a store. The manager spoke to me until he realised that I was visually impaired, then He ignored me and spoke to my friend. Maybe he thought that sight loss equals idiot!
Susie
Reminds me...
...of a disability issues campaign the BBC ran several years back, called "Does he take sugar?" - one of the main triggers being summed up in this poem (extract below):
There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't...