This project focuses on gender based discrimination in the workplace particularly as it is influenced by issues related to gender expression and fixity. The research examines how underrepresented gender groups experience the workplace and how others respond to their presence, and thus, it provides a lens on individuals' cultural understandings of gender and its binary and fixed nature. This research expands the conceptualization of the dimensions of gender based discrimination in its differentiation of gender expression and gender fixity, two concepts frequently considered as a unit, to see if one or the other plays more into prejudice or discrimination. The research involves both quantitative and qualitative research and employs Respondent Drive Sampling (RDS) to compute unbiased calculations of population estimates for the survey work so that solid generalizations can be made. It examines data about workplace experiences at various time periods in order to assess changes in discrimination. Interviews of individuals who have or are contemplating transitioning genders and of individuals who work with them makes it possible to assess the attitudes that motivate behaviors and handle challenges to their binary and fixed view of gender. Broader Impact This research has the opportunity to result in positive social change by helping to increase awareness of the socially constructed nature of gender. It has the potential to facilitate reducing gender inequality and gender based discrimination and abuse in the workplace.
