Last week, Tata Steel invited job applications for earth-moving machinery operators in its West Bokaro division. As the steel-maker’s notice made clear, transgender persons were more than welcome as candidates. This week, Dutch paints major Xenobel, in collaboration with National Small Industries Corp, opened a paint academy in Delhi designed to focus on training, among others, those who identify as transgender. Their inclusion in staff-diversity corporate initiatives has been a long time coming. It was in April 2014 that our Supreme Court, in its judgment on National Legal Services Authority v Union of India, recognized transgender persons as separate from the majority binary- and third gender under the Constitution of India. In 2020, all central government departments were directed to include transgender as a separate category for recruitment to civil services and other posts. This July, Karnataka reserved state jobs for transgenders. But progress has been slow and the level of confidence in inclusive employment needs to be raised.
Indian transgender people, who are often included as a community for some commonalities of culture and experience, have been making the news. From college principal Manabi Bandyopadhyay, activist-dancer Laxmi Narayan Tripathi and doctors Beyonce Laishram and VS Priya to politicians like Mayor Madhu Bai Kinnar and MLA Shabnam Bano, politicians who have acquired professional profiles have begun to counter misconceptions. Still, some have regular jobs. Our 2011 census found less than half a million self-identifying as transgender, but this hides the problem of underrepresentation, as this figure is probably a huge undercount. As many people who self-identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer or in other ways (LGBTQ+) can affirm, an openly held identity with popular expectations often acts as a barrier to the job. does. Even if recruiters hold no such bias, workplaces can become a hotbed of discrimination, some of which is too thinly disguised for comfort.
As the corporate world re-shapes recruitment policies according to findings that internal diversity correlates with better outcomes, it is time for gender-sensitization efforts to cover all. Affirmative action can also be taken to impart modern skills. Transgender recruits should not work in isolated groups. Assimilation goals have prompted avant-garde companies to establish practices aimed at ensuring that work conditions do not detract from identity. The use of explicit feedback, the creation of ‘collaborative’ groups and regular surveys of discriminatory attitudes are among the measures favored. More ideas will surely emerge as firms strive to align their office cultures with the ideals they support. Small gestures could work. Unisex washrooms—often in addition to the usual two—are sprouting up in the West and are reportedly seen by some transgender workers as a sign of housing. In India, active state sponsorship of an inclusion agenda will be essential for a transformative impact on society at large. But the personal pursuit of profit can also play a major role. Observations of group dynamics in business settings suggest that a high degree of goal-orientation, as often seen in well-motivated teams, which must be successful in competitive markets, promotes unity and division of identities. removes. If the pressure of performance can unite people and make them value what they are given, diversity and success can reinforce each other.
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