Passing/Out and bathroom privileges: doing transgender in the UK labour market

Abstract

This dissertation explores how passing and being openly trans affects work experiences and how access to gendered spaces is navigated at work. In order to investigate transgender at work qualitative data was generated from six semi-structured qualitative interviews with trans people across the UK. The workplace negotiations were explored through the theoretical lens of 'doing transgender', which builds on the theory of doing gender in order to be inclusive of a diversity of gender identities. I adopted a feminist approach to the research so as to centralise the voices of the participants, and to address the marginalisation of transgender in workplace theory. Analysis of the trans experiences revealed that all of the participants took part in both doing and undoing gender to differing degrees, and that this was often directly related to the structure of the workplace and sector of employment, with increased protections resulting in more flexibility with gender expression. I conclude that trans inequalities are perpetuated in workplace settings through organisations' subscriptions top the gender binary and prevalence of cisnormativity.