The experiences of sexual and gender minorities in employment: Evidence from a large-scale survey of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people in China

While China's Constitution says everyone is treated equally before the law, employment discrimination continues to exist. This paper breaks new ground by analysing a quantitative survey of more than 10,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people, the largest dataset of its kind to date in China. Only 5.1 per cent of respondents were completely open about their gender and sexuality at work. More than one-fifth reported experiencing negative treatment in the workplace. Transgender and intersex people reported higher rates of negative treatment, as did respondents with lower educational levels and lower incomes and those residing in towns. Employer policies against discrimination were rare, but when in place, they were significantly associated with less negative treatment. These findings highlight an almost completely neglected segment of the workforce and document discriminatory experiences that could be addressed by changes in discrimination law and by employer policies and practices related to diversity and inclusion.

儘管中國憲法規定公民在法律面前一律平等，但是就業歧視仍然存在。本文章通過分析對超過10,000個女同性戀、男同性戀、雙性戀、跨性別和間性 (LGBTI) 人士的量化數據，開辟了新的研究領域，這是迄今為止中國同類數據之中最大型的研究調查。在受訪者中，只有5.1%的人在工作場所完全透露自己的性傾向、性別認同或間性人身份。超過五分之一的LGBTI人士表示自己曾在工作場所遭受負面對待。跨性別和間性人士表示自己曾遭受負面對待的比率較高，而教育程度較低、收入較低和居住在城鎮的人也是如此。在工作場所的反歧視政策十分少見，然而一旦實行，就會與較少的負面對待有顯著關聯。這些研究結果展示了在中國幾乎完全被忽視的勞動力群體，並且記錄了歧視經驗可以通過推行反歧視法規以及雇主多元共融的政策和實踐來改善。 Copyright © 2020 SOAS University of London.