Butches and Jobs, Part I

Here's the first installment of my "butches and jobs" series.  As regular readers know, last week I posted a survey asking butch readers about their job search histories.  I got a big response--well over 200 readers filled out the whole thing (thanks!). 

Unsurprisingly, my youngest readers didn't fill it out (since most of them don't have work histories yet).  But aside from this, there was a fairly widespread representation of ages.  See?

Okay, admittedly that pie chart is a little gratuitous.  But it was my practice for using Word to make charts, and I was too delighted with myself for having done this not to share it.  Pretty colors!  Wheeee!

Ahem. 

So as you might remember, I asked about what factors "affect" you when you're looking for a job.  You could choose as many as you want, or none at all.  The job characteristics I listed were: helps society, lets me wear what I want, gives benefits to my partner, lets me live somewhere cool, and lets me be as "out" as I want.  They're shown by percentage (in ascending order):

I thought these results were pretty interesting.  Maybe the most interesting to me was "I can wear what I want."  Seven out of ten of us are affected by this.  Maybe if we polled straight people, some of them would be affected by the ability to wear what they wanted on the job, too, but I highly doubt it would be 70%!  It's depressing that this is a factor so many of us have to consider.  But to me, this really underscores the idea that self-presentation, particularly when it comes to clothing choices, is at the core of who we are and what allows us to be ourselves.  Can I be "me" in a skirt suit?  Not easily. 

I was a little surprised that partner benefits were so low on the list--only 36%.  Maybe this is because a lot of you don't have partners, or have partners whose workplaces already provide insurance, or work in a field where benefits aren't typically available, or work in a country with universal health care.  A few people wrote in the comments that regardless of whether their partners need health benefits, as a matter of principle they try not to work for companies who don't offer same-sex partner benefits. 

"I can be as 'out' as I want" topped the list--more than 3/4 of you are affected by the extent to which you can comfortably be out as LGBTQ at work.  Not too surprising, since fewer than half of all states in the U.S. have protection for people who are fired because of sexual orientation.  Some of you have experienced this.  Here are a few quotes from the survey:

• "I have been fired, and not hired, for being butch."
• "I have been fired for being out."
• "I joined the Army but was booted out after 18 months because I was gay."
  
• "I have been fired for being gay."
• "Twenty years ago I was advised to leave a globally recognised accountancy firm as they would never make my 'type' partner. Weirdly, the advice was given in my best interest."
• "I was fired after a boss figured out I'm a dyke."
• "I was asked to leave an interview for being 'too masculine.'"
  
• "I have been fired for my sexual orientation...  since then I make sure my gayness is clear and undeniable from day one." 

That last quote is something that a few others of you mentioned as well: you come out immediately, even in as early the interview or through signals on your resume (volunteer activities, etc.).  Presumably if someone has a huge problem with it, they'll never hire you in the first place.  I understand the "who would want to work for a homophobe anyway" approach (I use this same approach when talking to prospective landlords).  But it's also really crummy that in an economy where jobs are scarce, we'd be excluded from any of them for who we are. 

More to follow about butches and jobs in future posts.  Happy Leap Year! 

(Oh--and a note to you statisticians out there: I'm fully aware that this isn't a random sample, that I haven't controlled for various factors, etc., etc.  I'm not claiming scientific validity!)