Have you noticed more emails landing in your Inbox with a signature indicating the sender’s personal pronouns? He/him, she/her, they/them.
We asked UNE sociology lecturer and member of the university’s Diversity Advisory Committee Dr Christina Kenny about it.
“Citing your pronouns on your email sign-off helps others understand the pronouns you would like others to use when communicating with you, but it does something else really important,” she said. “It acknowledges that a person’s gender identity may not match their sex assignment. It reminds us that this is not an assumption you can make for everybody.
“Communicating your identity in this way makes space for others to communicate their pronouns and identities with you, and helps signal that the online space is safe and inclusive.”
We all have a part to play in being intersectional and inclusive.
Just as there is better awareness in the workplace today of the need to respect a person’s ethnicity, culture, faith and age – at least we hope there is – we are also becoming more mindful of the LGBTQAI+ community’s needs.
“For example, as a cisgender person, whose gender is aligned with the sex I was assigned at birth, there’s little risk in me sharing my preferred pronoun,” Christina says. “But it can be much harder for someone who is transgender or non-binary, who may be concerned about how they will be received by others.
“That’s why members of the LGBTQAI+ community need allies in the workplace who are prepared to list their pronouns. It normalises the practice and challenges all the assumptions we can make about one another. It shows respect for individual expression, and that helps to make workplaces more inclusive and safer for all. This is a small and easy thing to implement, and an example of the steps we can take to build a more inclusive community.
“We all have a part to play in being intersectional and inclusive.”
A report published in 2020 titled Private Lives, the largest study of its kind in Australia, revealed that experiences of unfair treatment, discrimination, physical abuse and psychological distress based on their sexuality and/or gender identity were rife within the LGBTQAI+ community. Almost three quarters of those surveyed reported having had suicidal ideation at some point in their lives, and one in 20 had attempted suicide in the previous year. Almost 45% did not feel accepted at work and almost 50% did not feel accepted in their educational institution because of their sexuality or gender identity. Participants in regional areas reported high or very high levels of psychological distress.
We each have a responsibility to do what we can; to use our own power and privilege to improve the experiences and wellbeing of others.
A Diversity Council of Australia national survey in 2019 made similar findings, with 35% of LGBTQAI+ respondents reporting that they felt they had to change to fit in at work and 44% reporting discrimination and/or harassment in the workplace.
Dr Kenny, who chairs UNE’s Queer Allyship Steering Committee, said that by recognising the structural and interpersonal discrimination that (sadly) still exists, people who don’t identify as LGBTQAI+ can become important allies.
“We each have a responsibility to do what we can; to use our own power and privilege to improve the experiences and wellbeing of others,” she says. “We don’t have to hold the same identity as another person to recognise the importance of protecting their rights. We can each put our shoulder to that wheel.”
