With DR Mira Fey, School of Social Work Fribourg (HES-SO), Switzerland
Gender-diverse workers within International Geneva (UN bodies/agencies, CERN, other IOs, think tanks) continue to face specific types of employment discrimination based on their gender identity and expression. Through 19 semi-structured interviews conducted between February and April 2022, Dr Mira Fey finds that the vast majority of international organisations do not provide adequate employment rights for gender-diverse workers. From an overall lack of awareness among co-workers, supervisors, and senior management over binary human resources (HR) forms and IT systems to almost no gender-neutral toilets, gender-diverse workers report a range of negative day-to-day experiences. LGBT focal points, UN GLOBE agency coordinators, and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) and HR personnel state three main root causes for these continuous obstacles: (1) the lack of a UN-wide sensitivity training, (2) an unwillingness (or inability) of HR to change binary forms and other outdated, cisnormative bureaucratic steps, and, most importantly, (3) insufficient funding for such undertakings, stemming out of political opposition by a range of member states to the full implementation of SOGIESC rights within and outside of the UN. The report was conducted with support from the Rosa-Luxemburg-Foundation Geneva and Haute école de travail social Genève.
About the speaker
After defending her PhD on Prostitution Policy and Policing in Political Science/International Relations at the Geneva Graduate Institute in 2019, Dr Mira Fey has been part of a range of research projects and taught at different institutions in Germany and Switzerland in English, French, and German. Since July 2022, Mira has worked as Associate Professor within the School of Social Work Fribourg, HES-SO. She continues to lead the research project Transvis - interrogating the visibility of trans and non-binary people in Geneva (09/2021-01/2023) which is situated at Haute école de travail social Genève. The project applies a participatory approach and works with two specialists working on trans and non-binary inclusion in LGBTIQ+ associations. Results include the co-creation of an academic-cultural event in late September/early October (Transmodulations), a survey on the experiences of trans and non-binary people benefitting from the services provided by various LGBTIQ+ associations in Geneva, and the report at hand.
This event is organised jointly by the Gender Centre, the Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative at the Geneva Graduate Institute and QISA.
Aditya Bharadwaj, Department Chair, Professor of Anthropology and Sociology, Co-Director, Gender Centre will be moderating the debate together with the Queer International Student Assembly (QISA).
