I want to talk about honoring individuality in the workplace. Michelle T. Johnson in her book The Diversity Code thinks “honoring individuality is the highest form of achieving diversity.” Read her book for the inside scoop.
Tactics abound that enable companies to increase profits and foster the health and happiness of employees. In the modern workplace savvy businesses have gotten hip to these habits:
Today in e-mail correspondence some firms allow their employees to list their preferred personal pronouns after their signature as in: Robin Smith (they/them). It’s thought that when cisgender individuals do this it helps non-binary and transgender people feel comfortable in sharing their identities. There’s a real safety risk that transgender people face in society.
To be candid I don’t want to be identified by my gender and prefer to use my given name as in: Christina Bruni (Chris/Christina). A woman I talked with thought this was a great idea. I haven’t gone so far as to sign my e-mails this way yet.
An image consultant I contacted stated that a person should feel free to tell coworkers whether they identify as masculine or feminine. You can identify as non-binary as well as transmasculine or transfeminine
A good place to start is with your e-mail signature as in: Sheila Jones (she/her) or however you identify. You can list the pronouns on your name badge at a conference too.
An aside:
In New York State it’s become easier to get issued a gender-neutral birth certificate. You don’t have to file an affidavit to do so.
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