‘I’m yet to spontaneously combust upon being misgendered’ – Leading Culture

One of the “biggest” obstacles relating to the use of gender pronouns in the workplace is “people’s fear of getting things wrong”, according to Ali Hannon, founder and managing director at inclusion focused firm Leading Culture.

Speaking during a panel discussion – entitled Non-binary inclusion – at the insurance industry’s Dive In Festival on 24 September 2024, Hannon explained that although “people are so terrified of saying the wrong thing” to colleagues and peers during the working day, they were “yet to spontaneously combust upon being misgendered”.

Trepidation around using the incorrect gender terminology is understandable, however. According to SexualDiversity.org, there are 107 gender pronouns in use today.

Last month’s panel discussion explored the steps companies can take to ensure gender neutrality in the workplace.

Chaired by Scor’s group head of diversity, inclusion and engagement, Sabrina Kruse, the panel also featured AIG fraud investigator and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) committee co-chair Robyn Newark.

Gaining understanding

For Hannon, there are “infinite ways” gender may be experienced and rather than referring to “rigid categories”, they believe gender is a “belief system” or social construct.

They added that although people fear saying the wrong thing, humans are in fact “mistake making machines”, so creating a safe space of learning for all is key.

Hannon advised insurance businesses against making assumptions about a person’s gender or pronouns. Instead, they noted that company leaders should step back and be “humble enough” to admit gaps in knowledge.

“This stuff is scary, particularly if you’re not immersed in it,” Hannon said.

“There’s a vulnerability that comes with talking about diversity and inclusion because I might need to sit down with [someone] at some point and have a conversation about the fact that I don’t understand what it feels like to be [them].

“I don’t have all the answers. But I’m vulnerable, I’m curious about who [they] are and I’m courageous enough to have that vulnerable conversation.”

Hannon therefore emphasised that “curiosity and courage in the face of inclusion and diversity are huge superpowers”.

Linguistics and data

Considering ways that inclusivity can be improved in the workplace, Newark said that people can start to offer their preferred pronouns when attending interviews and when first meeting clients or customers.

She also highlighted that “allowances” could be made for name and pronoun changes, similar to those made for people wishing to change their name through marriage, and that the language on forms can easily be updated.

“I went for a computed tomography (CT) scan recently and the forms ask questions like ‘is there a chance you might be pregnant’?” Newark said.

“That’s never going [to] happen for me. I’m not insulted by the question, but the question is there for people [where] there’s a possibility they might be.”

Hannon suggested that instead of forms asking “are you man, woman or other”, an open format question of “how do you describe your gender identity” can be a more positive move.

Hannon acknowledged, however, that such a change may have an impact on the complexity of collecting diversity and inclusion (D&I) data – whether in the workplace or other fields.

But they stressed that knowing what words people use to describe their gender is “interesting” in itself.

“You do get some good data out of that. It just might not be a nice pie chart with one line through the middle,” they added.

Sharing best practice

The “best advice” Newark gave delegates in terms of working with an employee whose gender identity is different to their sex assigned at birth is “instead of asking ‘are you going to have the surgery?’ just ask ‘how are things going with your gender identity’ or ‘how is the transition going? How are you doing?’”