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The Double Glazed Glass Ceiling: Supporting LGBT Women
Catherine Somerville, Campaigns, Policy and Research Manager, Stonewall Scotland
Elsa Fantini, Independent Consultant
Learning Outcomes: • Gain insight into the specific barriers faced by LGBT
women in the workplace.
• Look at practical ways to support LGBT women’s involvement in the workplace and in equality and diversity initiatives.
• Understand the importance and impact of female LGBT role models in the workplace.
“As a woman you’ve already got one strike against you in terms of the diversity box that you check. As a lesbian, that’s the second one as well. If you’re an ethnic minority lesbian then you’ve got three. As a woman and as an ethnic minority you can’t hide that, but there’s no reason to foreground that you’re gay as well. People feel that it’s hard enough.”
“The hardest thing about being a woman is deciding what to wear”
“Caitlyn Jenner you do not understand what being a woman is about at all. You want to be a woman and stand with us- well learn us. We are more than deciding what to wear. We are more than the stereotypes foisted upon us by people like you. You’re a woman now? Well f—king learn that we have had a VERY different experience than your life of male privilege. Woman of the year? No, not until you wake up and join the fight. Being a woman comes with a lot of baggage. The weight of unequal history. You’d do well to learn it. You’d do well to wake up. Woman of the year? Not by a long f—king shot.” –Rose McGowan
“The hardest thing about being a woman is deciding what to wear”
“I’m in a male dominated division, a male-dominated environment and a pretty tough sector of the economy. It’s hard enough being a woman, let alone being a gay woman and trying not to fall into any stereotypes because people tend to judge women much more harshly”
“There were always question marks around the fact that I’d had relationships with men and somehow that meant I couldn’t belong to the group of lesbians. I found people really couldn’t manage that; their attitude generally was that I’d just sleep with anyone at anytime, anywhere…”
Network Groups:
“We have a networking group and it is incredibly heavily male-dominated… I don’t tend to go to the meetings because it’s just the boys and there’s nothing really there for me. If you think you might want to go the first thing you do is call a couple of the girls and say, are you going, because if you don’t you’re going to turn up and it’s going to be you and 12 guys. They tend to be as much fun as a poke in the eye.”
Role models:
“I think role models are absolutely integral… Somebody actually having the confidence to come out sends an entirely different message through the organisation and that person becomes a good role model, not just for the LGBT community, but for all of the diverse communities really.”
The Double Glazed Glass Ceiling: Supporting LGBT Women
Please proceed to the Strathblane Hall for
refreshments