User:Raizaj24/Gender diversity

Gender diversity

Gender diversity is a term that involves the representation of people of different genders. Its purpose is to acknowledge and normalize the diversity of genders and to make everyone feel included despite the differences in every individual perspective of one's self. However, it's people's choice to share that kind of personal information publicly. It doesn't only represent man and woman, but non-binary people and the LGBT+ community, which often struggle to feel accepted or understood by society. There is a role played by gender diversity in the workplace that includes a variety of aspects such as the way gender diversity impacts in it, how different are the management styles, and how people perceive it and react to it. Gender diversity is not only viewed in the workplace but in every aspect of life, as in school.

Terminology^[1][2][3]

[See also LGBT and LGBT symbols]

There are many terminologies used to define someone's identity based in different points of view. These points of view can be the personal point of view, which is how an individual identifies themself (felt gender), the public point of view, which is how the individual projects their gender socially (lived/social gender or gender expression), and conventional/traditional masculinity or femininity, which is defined as physical or personal characteristics traditionally attributed to a specific gender ^[4][5]. To understand the many terminologies there are to define gender diversity, there has to be kept in mind a few concepts. Firstly, biological sex is what refers to the physical characteristics of an individual. The term sexual orientation is the attraction, being romantic or sexual, an inividual has towards the opposite sex, the same sex, or both sexes. There are many sexual orientations that are all part of gender diversity.

Lesbian

This term involves women, specifically, to identify their sexual orientation as a woman who likes women in a romantical or sexual way, or both way.^[6] Multiple flag have been created, however the most up to date is the one with five stripes starting with the color orange which means "gender non-conformity", light orange meaning "community", white for "unique relationships to womanhood", dusty pink for "love and sex", and finally, dark rose for "femininity". ^[7]

Gay

This term is used to define a man's sexual orientation as someone who likes men romantically, sexually or both ways. ^[8] The gay flag is the same as the LGBT+ community flag, with six colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. ^[9]

Bisexual

This term is used for women and men as people who like both genders romantically, sexually, or both. ^[10] Its flag is composed by three colors: pink alludes to the individual’s "sexual attraction to the same sex", blue represents "sexual attraction to the opposite sex", and purple’s meaning is to represent the "sexual attraction to both".^[11]

Transgender

The people who identify as transgender are the ones who differ of the sex/gender from when they were born. However^[12], transsexual people have already transition from a gender to another through a process that entails medical assistance. The most common medical treatment is hormones but there are options like surgery.^[13] The opposite of transgender is cisgender^[14], which is people who identify themselves with the sex or gender from when they were born. Its flag is design with five stripes , but is composed by three colors: light blue, pink, and white (blue, pink, white, pink, blue). Blue is representing a color that is associated with males, as well for pink, representing a color associated with females, and white is representing non-binary people.

Pansexual

A pansexual person is someone who isn't attracted by gender, sexual orientation, or biological sex. Its flag is also presented by three colors: pink is for "being attracted to women", yellow is for "being attracted for everyone else", and blue is for "being attracted to men".

Genderqueer

When people identify as genderqueer, fundamentally they are saying that they don't identify completely as man or woman. However, this can be interpreted by multiple meanings. This means that a person who identifies as genderqueer could identify themself as man and woman (bigender), neither of them (genderless), or could change from gender to gender (gender fluidity). ^{[15] [16]}

Asexual

An asexual person is someone who doesn't feel sexual attraction.^[17] Its flag is design with four stripes, each with a different color: black, which is for "asexuality", gray represents "gray-asexuals and demisexuals", white is for "allies", and purple is for "community".

Intersex

Someone who uses the term "intersex" to identify themself sees themself as someone who doesn't fit entirely the accepted expectations of gender by society due to biological issues.^[18] Its flag is different from the others. It's design with a yellow background with a purple circle in the middle.

Flag meaning ^[19]

Each color of the flag has a meaning:

Red represents life.

Orange represents healing.

Yellow represents the sun.

Green represents nature.

Blue represents art.

Violet represents spirit.

Gender diversity in school^[20][21]

Gender diversity in school sometimes can create disagreement among people with different believes. Gender diversity goal is to include this community in the many aspects of school and how people socially relate with each other, regardless of their personal perspectives of oneself.^[22]

In a study from Australia about teacher positivity towards gender diversity it was shown that gender diverse students from that school usually felt oppressed and marginalized by classmates and school staff. Gender diverse students who had exposed their sexuality to a teacher were more likely to be rejected by the teacher than straight students.^[23] In a USA study from 2013, National School Climate Survey of students it was determined that students who identified as a different gender had higher possibilities of being harassed or abused and felt less safe in the school. (https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED590243.pdf)

Studies have discovered that gender diverse students are able to identify that one third of the school staff could be trusted to help students who feel threatened.^[24] In a study done by Murdock and Bolch it was shown, through 101 students who identified as lesbians, gays, and bisexual, that teacher's support towards gender diverse students was increased by the sense of school belonging of the students. Also, it was discovered that even students of schools with high cases of marginalization were most likely to stay focused and on track academically if teachers showed support and acceptance.^[25] In GLSEN’s 2007 National School Climate Survey, the research showed that the 295 transgender students presented a higher level of victimisation and lower sense of school belonging. However, they reported that transgender students who were given the chance to speak openly about their sexuality felt a stronger sense of school belonging. (https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED505687) Gender diverse students are also four times more likely to have a hard time with their grades or even drop out of school when support from their teachers isn't perceived.^[26]

Gender diversity in the workplace [edit]

Gender diversity on corporate boards has been widely discussed, and many ongoing initiatives study and promote gender diversity in fields traditionally dominated by men, including computing, engineering, medicine, and science. It is argued that some proposed explanations are without merit and are in fact dangerous, while others do play a part in a complex interaction of factors. It is suggested that the very nature of science may contribute to the removal of women from the ‘pipeline’. Some studies show that higher diversity in the workforce is expected to bring higher returns, but other studies fail to support this claim. https://theconversation.com/when-good-intentions-arent-supported-by-social-science-evidence-diversity-research-and-policy-54875

Companies are more likely to attract more diverse people, and people who consider gender equality policies when considering different employers. Since men and women have different viewpoints, ideas, and market insights, a gender-diverse workforce enables better problem solving. A study done in 2014 by Gallup finds that hiring a gender-diverse workforce allows the company to serve an increasingly diverse customer base. This happens because a gender-diverse workforce eases the process of accessing resources, such as multiple sources of information or credit, and industry knowledge. Gender diverse organizations were also shown to benefit from increased customer understanding and satisfaction.

Diversity of management styles

A recent survey by RSA found that women are considered to "bring empathy and intuition to leadership", since they have greater awareness of the motivations and concerns of other people.^{[citation needed]} 62 per cent of the respondents of the survey said women contribute differently in the boardroom than their male colleagues. A similar proportion saw women as more empathetic, with a better insight into how decisions play out in the wider organization. When it came to communications and effective collaboration, “over half felt that women were better”. Gender-diverse organisations also enjoy heightened levels of creativity, innovation and problem-solving. Besides, the results of an study in this topic showed that there's a small difference in attendance when the director is a woman. In mentioned study, it was registered that in 74 firms there were problems with attendance, in which 3.4% were male directors and 3.2% were women. Although it's a 0.02% difference, it was shown that out of 84 directors 7 were women. Also, gender diversity in boards increases diversity of ideas by introducing different perspectives and problem-solving approaches. This gives teams increased optionality and decision-making advantages.

In financial markets

As of 2016, State Street Global Advisors offers an exchange traded fund (ETF) that tracks companies with relatively high proportions of women in executive and director positions. The ETF follows an index of 185 publicly traded US companies with gender-diverse executive leadership, defined as Senior VP or higher. Each company in the index must include at least one woman on its board or as CEO. The fund trades under the symbol SHE and has risen 4.96% in value in its first nine months since inception. In support of addressing systemic gender bias against women in leadership and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) that manifests early in life, the ETF provider has pledged to direct an unknown portion of its revenue to charitable organizations.

References