UO Workshop on Trans Issues
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HOW TO CITE THIS DOCUMENT BARIL, ALEXANDRE (2019) “GENDER AND TRANS ISSUES IN YOUR Alexandre Baril CLASSROOM: ANSWERING YOUR Ph.D. Women’s QUESTIONS,” WORKSHOP, DIVERSITY Studies AND LEARNING SERIES, TEACHING AND Professor, School of Social Work LEARNING SUPPORT SERVICE, UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA, JUNE 20 University of Ottawa © 2017 ALEXANDRE BARIL TRANSGENDER ISSUES CONTEXT (BARIL 2016) ¡ Despite the absence of data in the last Canadian census, the trans population is increasingly visible in society, the media and the academy. ¡ Trans people represent approximately 0.5% of the Canadian population (Davidson, 2015: 41; Trans Pulse Project, 2015) and therefore constitute a significant proportion of Canadians. ¡ Trans rights are a timely topic: there are new bills (e.g. Bill C-16, An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code, introduced in May 2016, which proposes the addition of gender identity or expression), new provincial laws, and new regulations and policies regarding trans people. ¡ Before 2012, all Canadian provinces and territories required mandatory surgeries (and therefore forced sterilization) in order to change sex/gender designation on a person’s birth certificate. This discriminatory requirement to obtain civil status consistent with self-identified gender was challenged and changed in Ontario in 2012, in British Columbia, Alberta, and Manitoba in 2014, in Nova Scotia and Quebec in 2015, and in Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador in 2016. Other provinces and territories still require sex reassignment surgeries in order to change sex/gender markers on birth certificates and ID. 2 TRANS PEOPLE’S REALITIES: FACTS AND STATISTICS (BARIL 2016) (CANADIAN DATA: BAUER AND SCHEIM 2015) Violence ¡ 75% of trans people have recently experienced psychological, verbal, or physical violence (Lombardi et al. 2001; Stotzer 2009). ¡ 37% have experienced economic violence (Lombardi et al. 2001). ¡ 20% of trans people in Canada have experienced physical or sexual assault for being trans. ¡ 34% of trans people in Canada have experienced verbal threats or harassment for being trans. ¡ 32% of trans people in Canada have had to move due to safety issues or access to health care. ¡ 57% of trans people in Canada avoid public bathrooms for safety reasons. 3 TRANS PEOPLE’S REALITIES: FACTS AND STATISTICS (BARIL 2016)(CANADIAN DATA: BAUER AND SCHEIM 2015) Medical issues ¡ 75% of trans people undergo medical treatments (e.g. hormonal treatment, surgeries). ¡ 32% to 43% have attempted suicide (Clements-Nolle 2006; Bauer and Scheim 2015: 4). ¡ 50% of trans people in Canada experience high levels of depression. ¡ 35% of trans people in Canada have considered suicide in the last 12 months. ¡ 10% of trans people in Canada have been refused emergency health care for being trans. ¡ 25% of trans people in Canada report experiences of verbal violence in the emergency room. ¡ 21% of trans people in Canada have chosen not to seek treatment in order to avoid violence. ¡ Rates are even higher for trans people of colour, and particularly trans women of colour and Indigenous trans people (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit, who self-identify as “two spirit”): 76% have seriously considered suicide and 61% reported a recent event of medical violence in the form of an “unmet health care need” (Scheim et al. 2013). 4 TRANS PEOPLE’S REALITIES: FACTS AND STATISTICS (BARIL 2016) (CANADIAN DATA: BAUER AND SCHEIM 2015) Employment ¡ 13% of trans people in Canada have been fired for being trans and an additional 15% who were fired think that the decision might have been based on their gender identity. ¡ 18% of trans people in Canada have been refused employment for being trans. ¡ 17% of trans people in Canada have refused a job offer because they felt the work environment was unsafe for trans people. ¡ 28% of trans people in Canada are unable to obtain employer references that use their chosen names and pronouns. ¡ 58% of trans people in Canada who are students are unable to obtain transcripts with their chosen names and pronouns. ¡ 40% of trans people in Canada are unemployed (Shelley, 2008: 82). ¡ $15,000 per year is the median income for trans people in Ontario, despite the fact that 44% of them have post-secondary or graduate degrees. 5 TRANS PEOPLE IN RESEARCH IN CANADA: BARRIERS AND STRUCTURAL ISSUES (BARIL 2016) Trans Erasure in Research Teams and Projects ¡ Many of the funded research projects on LGBTQ issues focus on LGBQ issues and tend to neglect trans issues. Interest in LGBTQ realities too often produces a form of erasure (Namaste, 2000) of trans-specific realities. ¡ In many of the funded research projects that include them, trans issues are briefly mentioned but are not addressed in depth. ¡ The research teams of many projects that receive substantial funding (e.g. 2.5 million, 2016) do not include publicly self- identified trans scholars (as principal investigators or co- applicants). 6 TRANS PEOPLE IN RESEARCH IN CANADA: BARRIERS AND STRUCTURAL ISSUES (BARIL 2016) Trans Erasure in Equity Targets ¡ In the majority of quantitative research projects addressing structural barriers faced by specific groups in the academy in Canada, LGBQ and trans categories are not taken into consideration as a potential factor that could prevent the full participation of LGBTQ researchers in knowledge production. ¡ In most universities and departments, gender identity is not considered in the criteria for equity targets; equity targets exist for women, visible minorities, indigenous people, disabled people, but not for trans people and rarely for LGBQ people. ¡ The faculties of most Canadian universities do not include trans scholars who are also trans people. Many universities have faculty members who conduct research directly or indirectly related to trans issues, but the majority of them are not publicly self-identified as trans. 7 TRANS PEOPLE IN RESEARCH IN CANADA: BARRIERS AND STRUCTURAL ISSUES (BARIL 2016) Trans Erasure in Equity Targets ¡ The Canada Research Chair website provides statistics regarding the following marginalized groups: women, visible minorities, persons with a disability, and aboriginal people, with no mention of LGBTQ groups. Data on trans people are not available and equity targets that could increase their participation in research are absent. ¡ Given that structural inequalities negatively impact women’s research careers, it is also important to identify and recognize that, for example, a trans man (a person assigned female at birth who transitions to a male identity) has lived part of his life in a female identity. Until other gender categories are recognized and included in university employment surveys, research on barriers in research, and equity targets, the experiences of sexism and structural inequalities that impact a career in research are erased for trans men who check the “male” box. 8 TRANS PEOPLE IN RESEARCH IN CANADA: BARRIERS AND STRUCTURAL ISSUES (BARIL 2016) Trans Erasure in Programs and Fields of Specialization ¡ Although the field of transgender studies is quickly evolving at the international level and the number of positions for trans scholars working on trans issues is increasing (e.g. cluster hire of four trans scholars at the University of Arizona), to my knowledge, a tenure-track position focused solely on trans issues has yet to be created in Canada. ¡ Despite the inclusion of trans issues in courses in some Canadian university programs in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, no undergraduate or graduate programs in Trans Studies yet exist. ¡ As was (and sometimes still is) the case with Women’s and Gender Studies, Trans Studies are very often disregarded as a legitimate field of study, as demonstrated by the lack of funding, positions, and programs in this area. 9 TRANS PEOPLE IN RESEARCH IN CANADA: BARRIERS AND STRUCTURAL ISSUES (BARIL 2016) Trans Erasure in Programs and Fields of Specialization ¡ Graduate students who wish to work on trans issues struggle to find departments and supervisors offering seminars and supervision on these topics. ¡ Many students who cannot find appropriate supervision on trans issues change their thesis subject or are informally mentored by trans scholars who perform invisible work. ¡ There are implicit biases and unconscious prejudices that inform the evaluation of research projects in the field of trans studies by researchers who may be unfamiliar with trans research and perspectives and are not, for the vast majority, themselves trans people. 10 TRANS PEOPLE IN RESEARCH IN CANADA: BARRIERS AND STRUCTURAL ISSUES (BARIL 2016) Trans Erasure and Structural Barriers to Research ¡ Like many other marginalized groups, trans people perform free and invisible work in the academy: informally mentoring and responding to questions and requests from students working on trans issues; raising awareness on trans issues in universities and committees, struggling to make the workplace more inclusive, and so on. ¡ Trans people’s invisible work can prevent them from advancing their own careers. ¡ As with many other marginalized groups, trans people’s socio-economic status often prevents them from obtaining the education they would like and realizing the research careers to which they aspire. ¡ Trans people require leave from work in order to receive medical treatments, time that may be comparable to parental or disability leave. 11 RECOMMENDATIONS TO INCREASE THE PARTICIPATION OF TRANS PEOPLE IN RESEARCH IN UNIVERSITIES (BARIL 2016) ¡ Address the problem of transphobia, which