Dani Gomez-Ortega encourages organizations to embrace complexity to foster workplace inclusion
Toronto Metropolitan University graduate Dani Gomez-Ortega shares what she’s learned working with leaders across the globe to make workplaces safer for trans people
Dani Gomez-Ortega found her way to activism out of necessity. As a trans-woman living in a world where she faced exclusion and resistance to her very existence, Gomez-Ortega says, “I became an activist by seeking to help myself when I didn’t feel included. It started with me attending support groups for LGBTQ+ people, where I became aware of my voice and the power I had to mobilize others and advocate for change.”
She knew that no matter where she went, or what career path she took, that voice would always be necessary. “To be honest,” Gomez-Ortega says, “I thought I’d always be doing this type of work off the side of my desk. I think of what I do as a way of working rather than just a title or a role. It’s something you can and should do in any environment.”
In the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020, “It was only then that many organizations realized they had work to do within their own walls,” Gomez-Ortega recounts. A graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University, she was among the wave of leaders hired into roles dedicated to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion across organizations.
In her most recent role as a global DEI leader at McCain Foods, where Gomez-Ortega is part of a team of two responsible for driving change across 54 countries, the only difference is, “I no longer have to do it for free.”
As organizations found themselves scrambling to address marginalization in their workforce, there was an understandable fear, especially for smaller organizations, that addressing racism, transphobia, sexism, and ableism—all of which had roots extending far beyond the walls of the workplace—was too big of a challenge.
The easy thing to do in the face of this complexity is give up, and many organizations have unfortunately opted to eliminate the DEI roles they created in 2020. Gomez-Ortega has made it her mission to encourage organizations to embrace this complexity and understand that meaningful change can still happen in the workplace with a few guiding principles, including:
- There is no universal approach.
- Inclusion in the workplace is not a matter of changing people’s values, but changing behaviours in a space so that everyone can belong and thrive.
- Organizations don’t have to do it on their own.
- Through small changes and practices, employers can make a significant impact on the wellbeing and health of trans people.
Trans-inclusiveness has become a significant focus of Dani’s equity-focused work as suicides among the trans population continue to climb, along with the prevalence of legislation criminalizing the existence of trans people.
Bringing your whole self to work means the right to mental and physical safety
The core of Gomez-Ortega’s work is fostering workplaces where an individual can “bring their whole self.” The phrase has become buzzworthy in recent years, but Gomez-Ortega operates with a particular interpretation in mind, namely, “A workplace where you bring your whole self is one where someone can feel valued and respected. What that means in practice is that no one is penalized simply for being who they are,” she explains.
“It’s important to recognize that we spend most of our waking hours at work, and if people have to spend that time feeling that they don’t belong or have to worry about being punished, it will impact their mental health,” Gomez-Ortega says. She adds that the impact can also be physical, costing organizations a healthy workforce. “We have to understand the physical aspects of harassment or exclusion, including high blood pressure and chronic pain through inflammation. Workplaces can slowly kill us.”
When working with other organizations or teams on fostering inclusion, Gomez-Ortega collaborates to find specific solutions that address exclusion within a particular context and to foster cultures where harassment and discrimination can be recognized and held to account. Gomez-Ortega adds, “I’ve also learned over the years that you can’t change people’s values. I’ve been to places where people may not accept who I am, but they can respect me or treat me with dignity in the workplace.”
Gomez-Ortega emphasizes that encouraging an inclusive and respectful environment is critical before an organization even has a trans person on their team. “Workplaces need to embed inclusion into their code of conduct by defining harassment to include the ways in which it shows up for trans people, including misgendering1 and deadnaming2, and publicizing that,” Gomez-Ortega explains. “By explicitly outlining these behaviours and equipping leaders to handle them, employers can literally keep trans people alive.”
Gomez-Ortega also encourages organizations to use education to counter harmful myths, such as the idea that being trans is merely a trend. This is where organizations can look to their local context and highlight ways trans people have always been present.
Lasting and impactful change is hard, but organizations don’t have to do it on their own
While many organizations, especially those with limited staff and resources, have found implementing DEI practices and policies daunting, Gomez-Ortega reminds us that the majority of these practices require small actions.
“Addressing misgendering or deadnaming is just one line in a code of conduct, plus the small amount of effort it takes to communicate this policy. These are normal HR procedures,” Gomez-Ortega says.
When it comes to more structural efforts like making gender-affirming care part of an organization’s benefits package and educating the current workforce about the broader issue of anti-trans violence and discrimination, Gomez-Ortega offers the reminder that partnership is essential in tackling these challenges, reinforcing the importance of localized solutions. “For small organizations, there are already organizations like Pride at Work Canada ready to help you take on this kind of work. There are also organizations like the 519 who are eager to connect with more organizations and help them hire more trans people.”
Employers across Canada can reach out to local activists, leaders, and community organizations to understand barriers among the local population, connect to relevant wrap-around services, and collaborate in the long-term to support the hiring, retention, and inclusion of trans people in the workplace.
“We might be tempted to have a global approach, but each community has its own unique needs, so solutions need to be hyper-local,” Gomez-Ortega says.
As suicide rates and poverty among trans people continue to climb, inclusivity can save trans lives
“Employers have the ability to keep trans people alive by educating their workforce and creating safe workplaces,” Gomez-Ortega urges. “When we look at the lives of trans people right now, we see that 70 per cent of trans people earn less than $50,000 annually compared to 34 per cent of the general population. 16 per cent are also unemployed, which pushes many people into survival sex work and puts them at risk for their safety and lives.”
Gomez-Ortega says that with small actions, employers can make a profound impact. “Empowering your organization to be inclusive means that trans people can have at least one caring person on their side, and on its own that greatly reduces the chance of suicide.”
While these statistics are dire, Gomez-Ortega finds hope and the courage to continue her work when she sees the progress the trans community and allies have made in only a short time. “We’ve made tons of progress that past generations couldn’t have dreamed of,” Dani says. “While we are seeing a rise in trans hate, we are also seeing trans people and their allies take part in protests against hate and let their politicians know that it’s not okay. I think the next few years will be tough, but this is a community of fighters and survivors.”
- Misgendering is referring to someone using language that doesn’t align with the gender with which they identify. ↩︎
- Deadnaming refers to using a trans person’s birth name after they have changed their name as part of their transition. ↩︎
For more resources on creating trans-inclusive workplaces, check out:
Pride at Work Canada: Transitioning Employers: A survey of policies and practices for trans inclusive workplaces
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation: Transgender Inclusion in the Workplace: Recommended Policies and Practices
EGALE Canada: Gender Identity and Canada’s Human Rights System