This section of handling discrimination is aimed at transgendered and transsexual students and graduates. It aims to explore the potential issues for such students or graduates in the workplace arising from their gender identity and to provide help, if necessary, for combating any possible difficulties. The definition of the term transgendered, though still the subject of much debate, is often used to describe a range of individuals who find that the gender that they were assigned at birth, whether male or female, is not one that fits with their gender identity. Transgendered individuals, using this definition, can include transsexual people (a much more acceptable term than simply 'transsexuals'), crossdressers and transvestites. It is important to note that whilst such broad terms as 'transgendered' can be used to group together individuals with some common characteristics, that transsexualism is not the same as transvestism, crossdressing or sexual orientation. This is sometimes forgotten when information for transgendered individuals is grouped together with information for gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals (the term GLBT is still in common use). Much of the information in this section will focus on issues facing transsexual people, individuals born with the body of one sex who have a strong psychological need to have the body, and live the life, of the other sex. It is difficult to estimate the number of transsexual people living in the UK today as essentially the condition itself is a hidden one. Recent estimates, cited by the Inland Revenue’s Diversity and Equality Unit, suggest that 'perhaps more than 1 in every 10,000 of the male population may be transsexual (with) the rates of occurrence of known female-to-male transsexuals significantly lower'.
|
