Last week was the 7th installment of Staff Conversations, a series developed by the Equity and Justice committee consisting of staff from UW Botanic Gardens and Arboretum Foundation. The goal of Staff Conversations is to move our organizations towards more equitable and inclusive programs, organizations and practices by engaging staff in the discovery, learning and implementation of equitable and antiracist practices. Each meeting is developed around a central topic and committee members compile related resources and materials for staff to view before attending the Conversations.

For the month of November, we focused on the topic of gender identity. Staff explored readings and videos on transgender and non-binary identities. These resources offered an introduction to gender identity and pronouns, and ways to be a respectful and supportive ally. During the Conversations, staff shared their self reflections and used the discussion questions below to further their learning.

Resources:

• Video: Gender Identity and Pronouns
• Reading: Understanding Non-Binary People: How to Be Respectful and Supportive
• Reading: Frequently Asked Questions about Transgender People
• Video: theyThem

Discussion Prompts:

1. What’s an experience you’ve had with encountering new pronouns?
2. Has there ever been a time where a stereotype of your assigned gender was uncomfortable for you?
3. What are strategies you can employ to be more gender inclusive in your personal life and at work? How can we be more inclusive to coworkers, visitors, and volunteers?

Learnings from the discussion include:

• You cannot tell a person’s gender identity by simply looking at them. They must tell you.
• Everyone struggles with pronouns at one point or another. It is okay to mess up as long as you correct yourself and make an effort to learn.
• Gender norms and stereotypes are harmful to everyone whether you are cisgender or transgender.
• An easy step for cisgender people to be supportive is to introduce themselves with their pronouns.
  • This includes in-person interactions, name-tags, and email signatures!
• When addressing groups of people, it is common to use gendered, binary, and exclusive phrases like “ladies and gentlemen” and “boys and girls”, but there are better (and more fun) inclusive alternatives such as: friends, folks, peeps, earthlings, cool cats and kittens, theydies and gentlethems, and more!

To explore past topics and resources, visit Equity and Justice: Conversations with Staff Resources.