Tag: bullying

Transgender Day of Remembrance

On November 20th it was Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) an annual observance that honours the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence.

Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) was started in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honour the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998. The vigil commemorated all the transgender people lost to violence since Rita Hester’s death, and began an important tradition that has become the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.

This year, there have been 331 known killings of trans people worldwide that Stonewall and other LGBTQ+ communities and organisations around the world will remember. Sadly, these numbers include the murder of Amy Griffiths, a 51 year old trans woman, in Droitwitch, Worcestershire, in January of this year
Every life taken has its own devastating circumstances but it is possible to observe that the vast majority of those killed are trans women and transfeminine people of colour. The Trans Murder Monitoring Project noted that, of those whose professions were known, 61% of murdered trans people this year worked as sex workers.

In Europe, the majority of murdered trans women were migrant trans women. Many murders of trans people occur in circumstances including poverty, racism, anti-immigrant and anti-sex worker sentiment and misogyny, which deprive some trans communities of resources and protection and make certain kinds of trans person especially vulnerable to male violence.

Sadly, some trans people – particularly women – are most at risk of fatal violence from cis male intimate partners, such as boyfriends. The stigma, family rejection, limited employment opportunities and social isolation experienced by many trans people can leave them particularly vulnerable to abuse in relationships.

In many cases, violence against trans people is also driven by toxic ideals of masculinity founded on homophobia and biphobia. On Trans Day of Remembrance, many of us, whether cis or trans, can reflect on how we can work together to end gender-based violence, harassment and discrimination in all their forms.

JD

Workplace Bullying and Harassment

Whilst bullying and harassment in the workplace is clearly something no organisation wants to see happening in their own back yard the law can actually confuse the matter further because bullying in the workplace is not actually unlawful but harassment is. However, employers are expected to have a zero tolerance towards bullying and harassment and to take action when it has been identified to protect working relationships.

Bullying and harassment can take different forms, some highly aggressive and obvious whilst others can be more subtle and less obvious. Bullying is rarely isolated and is often a pattern of behaviour where a number of incidents demonstrate that it is taking place. For ACAS, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, bullying and harassment in the workplace may include:

  • spreading malicious rumours, or insulting someone by word or behaviour (particularly on the grounds of age, race, sex, disability, sexual orientation and religion or belief)
  • copying memos that are critical about someone to others who do not need to know
  • ridiculing or demeaning someone – picking on them or setting them up to fail
  • exclusion or victimisation
  • unfair treatment
  • overbearing supervision or other misuse of power or position
  • unwelcome sexual advances – touching, standing too close, the display of offensive materials, asking for sexual favours, making decisions on the basis of sexual advances being accepted or rejected
  • making threats or comments about job security without foundation
  • deliberately undermining a competent worker by overloading and constant criticism
  • preventing individuals progressing by intentionally blocking promotion or training opportunities.

Harassment should not be tolerated in the workplace and under the Equality Act 2010 it is unlawful and whilst an employer has a duty to implement the act it is not required in law to have a policy regarding bullying and harassment. That said, it is certainly good practice to do so and most human resources departments will have one in place in order to be very clear on what is and what is not acceptable so workplace bullies can be held to account.

It is often useful for an EDI lead to examine the records of bullying and harassment claims/allegations in an organisation to see if there is a wider issue that requires intervention, training or policy changes in order to reduced such incidents.

JD