Coordinators Report

by Elizabeth Riley

(The Gender Centre advise that this article may not be current and as such certain content, including but not limited to persons, contact details and dates may not apply. Where legal authority or medical related matters are cited, responsibility lies with the reader to obtain the most current relevant legal authority and/or medical publication.)

Big News in Employment

In the last issue of Polare we ran an article on Trany Equity, and from previous issues you will have become aware of our increasing endeavours to improve employment opportunities for the transgender community.

In the Trans Equity article, I suggested that people might like to forward resumes to me indicating their interest in finding employment. Despite the statistics, suggesting an unemployment rate in the region of 60%, only a handful of resumes arrived on our doorstep. I understand that there is justifiable skepticism in our community with many tranys having bad experiences in the past. But times, (and attitudes) are changing and more and more doors are beginning to open to us.

Since the last issue of Polare I have had extensive discussions with Westpac's Workplace Diversity Manager, and she in turn has held a number of discussions with internal management. The outcome of these discussions has been a firm commitment from Westpac to the principle of transgender employment.

One of the philosophies in valuing workplace diversity is that a workforce should reflect the diversity of its clients. As a consequence, The Gender Centre and Westpac have agreed to target the Eastern Suburbs region, including Darlinghurst, as a starting point for transgender employment since there are high concentrations of the transgender community living in these areas.

The recruitment process for this area is dealt with by a personnel agency, and Westpac has undertaken to brief them that applications for positions from transgendered people are to be treated equally with any other applications. Most recruitment takes place at the customer service and teller level and aptitude tests are conducted by the agency.

Westpac have provided us with a list of current vacancies in the target area. The next step rests with you! Get on the phone. Get the necessary details. And go for it!

This is a golden opportunity to get a start with a major corporation and every success we have will see another door open. Good luck and I hope to see a familiar face next time I go into my Westpac Branch.

Polare is published in Australia by The Gender Centre Inc. which is funded by the Department of Community Services under the S.A.A.P. Program and supported by the N.S.W. Health Department through the AIDS and Infectious Diseases Branch. Polare provides a forum for discussion and debate on gender issues. Advertisers are advised that all advertising is their responsibility under the Trade Practices Act. Unsolicited contributions are welcome, though no guarantee is made by the Editor that they will be published, nor any discussion entered into. The editor reserves the right to edit such contributions without notification. Any submission which appears in Polare may be published on our internet site. Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor, The Gender Centre Inc.I, the Department of Community Services or the N.S.W. Department of Health.