Equality and Human Rights Commission

Potential anxieties for trans applicants

Even the most 'secure and integrated' of trans people can experience above-average levels of anxiety about face-to-face job interviews. As for any applicant, they are going into an unknown situation to meet strangers from an unfamiliar organisational culture, where aspects of their background and work / life history are liable to be probed, along with their qualifications and references. This is stressful enough for most people without additional worries about the reception they might receive as a trans person.

Many trans people’s backgrounds may not be apparent from seeing or talking to them – either naturally so, or because of specialist surgery. Being undetectable in this way is referred to as ‘passing’. When people pass well and don’t wish their background to be known or discussed this is known as ‘living in stealth’. The preference for stealth is not an attempt to deceive you – it is a defence that has evolved in response to the overt stigma and disrespect that generations of trans people have known.

Trans people also fear that even when people are not discriminatory they can still treat them differently when knowing what is, in effect, an intimate detail of their medical history. Most people would balk at such an intrusion into their own privacy. Trans people are the same as everyone else in that respect, and their privacy rights are underpinned by the protection from unauthorised disclosure provided in the Gender Recognition Act.

There are other trans people for whom the transformation is less complete – especially during transition or in the first few years afterwards. Some trans people may know or fear that their gender background may be perceived by the interviewers. This is referred to as being ‘read’ and is often very distressing. There is likely to be an inbuilt expectation that being read will prejudice the interview process. This is why it is important for literature seen by applicants before interview to include equal opportunities reassurance.

Don’t ask – anticipate!

Even if you think that an applicant may be trans you should never ask. Think of this in the same category as asking someone if they plan to have a family. Although you may perceive someone to be trans you could also be wrong. Maybe they have an intersex condition, or they’re simply a feminine man or a masculine woman.

The flip side to not asking about someone’s gender history is behaving professionally when an applicant discloses it. This is something that should therefore be covered as part of the routine training for staff who are going to interview applicants.