Factors of gender discrimination against transgender women in private organizations in Bangkok, Thailand
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
The fifth and eighth goals of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, which highlight gender equality and decent work for all through inclusive and sustainable economic growth on the basis of full and productive employment, seem to be difficult to achieve in Thailand. Despite the implementation of the Gender Equality Act in 2015, discrimination against trans-women still persists, even emerging as a unique challenge in their employment opportunities. Thus, this study aims to explore the extent to which factors affect gender discrimination against trans-women employees at work in Bangkok’s private organizations. By utilizing offline and online surveys based on quantitative method, the research hypotheses have been tested via organizational factors (level of recognition of the 2015 Gender Equality Act and the presence of policies and procedures that support gender diversity and a positive organizational environment for gender diversity in the organization) and individual factors (the internalized elements of trans-women on the basis of the level of self-stigma and avoidance of being a discriminatory target); moreover, the levels of the steps of transitioning and sexual disclosure were theoretically examined among 437 trans-women employees working in Bangkok’s private organizations. Findings show that 59.5% of trans-women have experienced self-stigma and avoided being a discriminatory target in working situations, and 48.3% of them had a negative experience because of being a trans-woman. Not all people in organizations are moderately open toward transgender; in fact, more than 50% of Bangkok’s private organizations do not have a gender diversity policy that could enhance the work environment of trans-women workers. Furthermore, the recognition of the 2015 Gender Equality Act within organizations is only at 48.5%. These organizational factors presumably reflect the circumstances of gender discrimination at work against them. Thus, this research aims to increase and highlight empirically extended factors from this problem of unbreakable glass ceiling that limit Thai trans-women’s job opportunities; furthermore, this study proposes necessary recommendations that could influence government policy approaches, private and public stakeholders, and individual improvement.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
All rights reserved. Apart from citations for the purposes of research, private study, or criticism and review,no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any other form without prior written permission by the publisher.
References
Anderson, S. M. (2020). Gender matters: The perceived role of gender expression in discrimination against cisgender and transgender LGBQ individuals. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 44(3), 323–341. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684320929354
Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM). (2013). Overlooked, Ignored, Forgotten: HIV and Basic Right of Transgender People in Asia and the Pacific. www.aidsdatahub.org/resource/policy-brief-overlooked-ignored-forgotten-hiv-basic-rights-transgender-people-asia-pacific
Austin, A., & Goodman, R. (2017). The impact of social connectedness and internalized transphobic stigma on self-esteem among transgender and gender non-conforming adults. Journal of Homosexuality, 64(6), 825–841. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2016.1236587
Babbie, E. R. (2007). The practice of social research (11th ed.). Thompson Wadsworth.
Badgett, M. V. L., & Sell, R. (2018). A Set of Proposed Indicators for the LGBTI Inclusion Index. UNDP. https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/publications/ENGLISH_LGBTI_index_march2019.pdf
Badgett, M. V. L., Nezhad, S., Waaldijk, K., & van der Meulen Rodgers, Y. (2014). The relationship between LGBT inclusion and economic development: An analysis of emerging economies. US Agency for International Development (USAID) and Williams Institute. www.escholarship.org/content/qt3kn013kr/qt3kn013kr.pdf
Bockting, W. O., Miner, M. H., Swinburne Romine, R. E., Dolezal, C., Robinson, B. B. E., Rosser, B. R. S., & Coleman, E. (2020). The transgender identity survey: A measure of internalized transphobia. LGBT Health, 7(1), 15–27. https://doi.org/10.1089/lgbt.2018.0265
Bozani, V., Drydakis, N., Sidiropoulou, K., Harvey, B., & Paraskevopoulou, A. (2019). Workplace positive actions, trans people’s self-esteem and human resources’ evaluations. International Journal of Manpower, 41(6), 809–831. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-03-2019-0153
Bränström, R., & Pachankis, J. E. (2021). Country-level structural stigma, identity concealment, and day-to-day discrimination as determinants of transgender people’s life satisfaction. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 56(9), 1537–1545. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-021-02036-6
Brewster, M. E., Velez, B. L., Mennicke, A., & Tebbe, E. (2014). Voices from beyond: A thematic content analysis of transgender employees’ workplace experiences. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 1(2), 159–169. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000030
Brown, T. A. (2015). Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research (2nd ed.). The Guilford Press.
Butler, J. (2004). Undoing gender. Psychology Press.
Catalano, C., McCarthy, L., & Shlasko, D. (2007). Transgender oppression curriculum design. In M. Adams, L. A. Bell, & P. Griffin (Eds.), Teaching for diversity and social justice (2nd ed., pp. 219–245). Routledge.
Chattopadhyay, K. (2017). Transgender empowerment: Gender fucking or fucking gender? Edulight Journal, 6(11), 4–14. www.academia.edu/81140058/Peer_Reviewed_Print_Research_Journal_4_
Corrigan, P. W., & Watson, A. C. (2002). The paradox of self-stigma and mental illness. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 9(1), 35–53. http://doi.org/10.1093/clipsy.9.1.35
Devor, A. H. (2004). Witnessing and mirroring: A fourteen stage model of transsexual identity formation. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Mental Health, 8(1–2), 41–67. https://onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca/ahdevor/wp-content/uploads/sites/2247/2016/12/Witnessing.pdf
DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48(2), 147–160. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095101
Dispenza, F., Watson, L. B., Chung, Y. B., & Brack, G. (2012). Experience of career‐related discrimination for female‐to‐male transgender persons: A qualitative study. The Career Development Quarterly, 60(1), 65–81. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-0045.2012.00006.x
Ekins, R., & King, D. (2006). The transgender phenomenon. SAGE.
Farber, R. (2023). Discrimination, health, and resistance for Thai transgender women. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-023-01592-8
Fletcher, L., & Marvell, R. (2023). Furthering transgender inclusion in the workplace: Advancing a new model of allyship intentions and perceptions. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 34(9), 1726–1756. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2021.2023895
Fontana, E., & Siriwichai, P. (2022). Understanding transgender persons’ careers to advance sustainable development: The case of trans for career Thailand. Sustainable Development, 30(6), 1573–1590. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2329
Goffman, E. (1997). Selections from stigma. In L. J. Davis (Ed.), The disability studies reader (pp. 203–215). Routledge.
Herek, G. M. (2007). Confronting sexual stigma and prejudice: Theory and practice. Journal of Social Issues, 63(4), 905–925. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2007.00544.x
Hughto, J. M. W., Reisner, S. L., & Pachankis, J. E. (2015). Transgender stigma and health: A critical review of stigma determinants, mechanisms, and interventions. Social Science and Medicine, 147, 222–231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.11.010
Jeffries, S., Thipphayamongkoludom, Y., & Chuenurah, C. (2023). Phu-Ying-Kham-Phet (transwomen’s) pathways to prison in Thailand. Victims and Offenders, 18(6), 1113–1147. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2022.2089415
Kozee, H. B., Tylka, T. L., & Bauerband, L. A. (2012). Measuring transgender individuals’ comfort with gender identity and appearance: Development and validation of the transgender congruence scale. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 36(2), 179–196. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684312442161
Kuper, L. E., Wright, L., & Mustanski, B. (2018). Gender identity development among transgender and gender nonconforming emerging adults: An intersectional approach. International Journal of Transgenderism, 19(4), 436–455. https://doi.org/10.1080/15532739.2018.1443869
Magalhães, M., Aparicio-García, M. E., & García-Nieto, I. (2020). Transition trajectories: Contexts, difficulties and consequences reported by young transgender and non-binary Spaniards. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(18), Article 6859. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17186859
Mak, W. W. S., & Cheung, R. Y. M. (2010). Self-stigma among concealable minorities in Hong Kong: Conceptualization and unified measurement. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 80(2), 267–281. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1939-0025.2010.01030.x
Mishra, U. K., & Negi, A. (2021). Transgender and the right to employment in India: Analysing the trajectories of discrimination. Bestuur, 9(1), 26–33. https://doi.org/10.20961/bestuur.v9i1.51997
Mohr, J. J., & Kendra, M. S. (2011). Revision and extension of a multidimensional measure of sexual minority identity: The lesbian, gay, and bisexual identity scale. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 58(2), 234–245. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022858
Ozturk, M. B., & Tatli, A. (2016). Gender identity inclusion in the workplace: Broadening diversity management research and practice through the case of transgender employees in the UK. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(8), 781–802. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2015.1042902
Pravattiyagul, J. (2022). Transgender prisoners in Thailand: Gender identity, vulnerabilities, lives behind bars, and prison policies. In A. M. Jefferson & S. Jeffries (Eds.), Gender, criminalization, imprisonment and human rights in Southeast Asia (emerald studies in activist criminology) (pp. 109–124). Emerald Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80117-286-820221007
Rovinelli, R. J., & Hambleton, R. K. (1977). On the use of content specialists in the assessment of criterion-referenced test item validity. Tijdschrift Voor Onderwijs Research, 2, 49–60. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED121845.pdf
Schilt, K., & Connell, C. (2007). Do workplace gender transitions make gender trouble? Gender, Work and Organization, 14(6), 596–618. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0432.2007.00373.x
Singh, Y., Aher, A., Shaikh, S., Mehta, S., Robertson, J., & Chakrapani, V. (2014). Gender transition services for hijras and other male-to-female transgender people in India: Availability and barriers to access and use. International Journal of Transgenderism, 15(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/15532739.2014.890559
Sireci, S. G. (1998). Gathering and analyzing content validity data. Educational Assessment, 5(4), 299–321. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326977ea0504_2
Srikummoon, P., Thanutan, Y., Manojai, N., Prasitwattanaseree, S., Boonyapisomparn, N., Kummaraka, U., Pateekhum, C., Chiawkhun, P., Owatsakul, C., Maneeton, B., Maneeton, N., Kawilapat, S., & Traisathit, P. (2022). Discrimination against and associated stigma experienced by transgender women with intersectional identities in Thailand. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(24), Article 16532. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192416532
Stavrou, E., & Ierodiakonou, C. (2018). Expanding the work–life balance discourse to LGBT employees: Proposed research framework and organizational responses. Human Resource Management, 57(6), 1355–1370. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21910
Turner, R. C., & Carlson, L. (2003). Indexes of item-objective congruence for multidimensional items. International Journal of Testing, 3(2), 163–171. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327574IJT0302_5
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). (2018). Legal gender recognition in Thailand: A legal and policy review. UNDP. https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/migration/th/legal-gender-recognition-in-thailand-2018.pdf
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). (2020). Stories of stigma: Exploring stigma and discrimination against Thai transgender people while accessing health care and in other settings. UNDP. www.undp.org/thailand/publications/stories-stigma
United Nations Development Programme, & International Labour Organization (UNDP & ILO). (2018). LGBTI people and employment: Discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics in China, the Philippines and Thailand. UNDP. www.undp.org/asia-pacific/publications/lgbti-people-and-employment-discrimination-based-sexual-orientation-gender-identity-and-expression-and-sex-characteristics
Varshney, D. (2022). ‘We look before and after, and pine for what is not’: Interview narratives of the transgender workforce. A qualitative study. Psychological Studies, 67(4), 583–593. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-022-00690-7
Verbeek, M. J. A., Hommes, M. A., Stutterheim, S. E., van Lankveld, J. J. D. M., & Bos, A. E. R. (2020). Experiences with stigmatization among transgender individuals after transition: A qualitative study in the Netherlands. International Journal of Transgender Health, 21(2), 220–233. https://doi.org/10.1080/26895269.2020.1750529
Waldo, C. R. (1999). Working in a majority context: A structural model of heterosexism as minority stress in the workplace. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 46(2), 218–232. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.46.2.218
West, C., & Zimmerman, D. H. (1987). Doing gender. Gender and Society, 1(2), 125–151. http://www.jstor.org/stable/189945
Winter, S., & Udomsak, N. (2002). Male, female and transgender: Stereotypes and self in Thailand. International Journal of Transgenderism, 6(1). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288617609_Male_female_and_transgender_Stereotypes_and_self_in_Thailand
Winter, S., Davis-McCabe, C., Russell, C., Wilde, D., Chu, T. H., Suparak, P., & Wong, J. (2018). Denied work: An audit of employment discrimination on the basis of gender identity in Asia. Asia Pacific Transgender Network and United Nations Development Programme. https://weareaptn.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/APTN-DeniedWork-Thailand.pdf
World Bank Group. (2018). Economic inclusion of LGBTI groups in Thailand. World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29632