We spoke with Martina Ansardi, trans activist and coordinator of Contratá Trans. They are a comprehensive programme for dedicated to the inclusion of transvestites and trans people in the labour force. Martina explains the inequalities that the trans community has long faced and still do today and how Contratá trans is working to historically face in the world of work and how Contratá Trabs is helping to make changes to address the outstanding issues.
Trans community – the black and white picture
Historically, the trans community has been violated, to such an extent that the oppression and obstacles they have experienced in the past ( and very often still do) are present in their bodies and minds today. Systemic violence, multiple inequalities and rights violations, over and over again.
For a person of this community, being alive is an achievement in itself. Even in the 21st century, the transgender population has a life expectancy of less than 40 years (UNDP).
A simple activity such as visiting a hospital can be an ordeal: can you imagine going to the doctor and being called by a name that corresponds to a different gender than the one you identify with? This shameful and humiliating situation means that, in many cases, they decide not to go to a doctor’s office unless it is a real emergency, leading their health to a state of progressive deterioration.
These inequalities can also be observed in economic and employment sectors. 60% of transgender people work as prostitutes. However, 87% would stop if they had another possibility (Butterfly Revolution).
One of the reasons for the lack of work opportunities is that 80% of transgender people do not have access to a formal job (INDEC). While some companies have been working on a profound cultural transformation in terms of gender and diversity and have successfully included trans people in their teams, many others are yet to do the same.
Unless there is an explicit commitment to inclusion and concrete initiatives to back it up, this omission allows for stereotypes deep-rooted in society to enter the workplace. These stereotypes exclude those who do not conform to the prevailing hegemonic norm.
Naturally, no one wants to expose themselves to a potentially hostile environment. So it is common for a trans person to feel uncomfortable attending a job interview and to focus on defending themselves from potential threats, rather than bringing out their talents. While everyone walks through the same door, not everyone went through the same things to get there.
How can you do your best in the interview if you are dodging looks of rejection or disapproval along the way ? How can you trust that this time you will not be unfairly judged when you have experienced it so many times before?
Training is another challenge. It is very difficult for transgender people to finish their studies and continue their training. The vast majority drop out of school, a reality that adds to the challenges of being employable and developing professionally in an increasingly demanding labour market.
The colourful, multicoloured photo
Impacto Digital is a non-profit organisation with a strong commitment to transform this reality. They have launched the Contratá Trans project, which works to improve the conditions of social and labour inclusion of trans people through training, advice, visibility campaigns, and a job bank exclusively for transvestites, trans and non-binary people.
In particular, the employment portal is a virtual platform which allows trans people to contact organisations interested in hiring them and builds a bridge for the latter to find suitable profiles for open vacancies (in the areas of web design, marketing, administration, social networks, among others).
The big difference with this system is that at the time of selection, companies using the job exchange do not have access to the gender of the candidate – sometimes not even the name. So this means that they choose based soley on skills and there is no room for any discrimination.
Throughout the selection process and even after hiring, Contratá Trans coordinate with both parties:
They support organisations in transforming their culture and internal processes. For example, part of the work with companies is to make them understand the need to analyse the person’s curriculum vitae (cv) or resume in perspective:
One course completed by a trans person is equivalent to 10 courses done by a cis person (someone who identifies with the biological sex given at birth).
Why? Because the barriers and effort involved for a trans person in completing a course are disproportionately higher than those faced by a cis person.
At the same time, Contratá Trans validates that organisations are genuinely committed to the inclusion of trans people and that they guarantee decent working conditions for trans people.
This endorsement provides a framework of care, encourages their application and avoids candidates applying unnecessarily to organisations that are not yet ready to receive them.
Contratá Trans currently works with 120 companies, from SMEs to multinationals, and its goal for 2021 is to end up with more than 80 placements. They have also set themselves the challenge of expanding the programme to more Latin American countries.
At Efecto Colibrí we congratulate the work done so far and we join the call to action proposed by Martina: public policies formulated in conjunction with the collective, enforcement of regulations in practice, access to education (that teaches about all bodies), access to health, reparation actions for the damage caused, and a detailed action plan so that the injustices that have occurred never happen again, to anyone.
