IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ilrrev/v73y2020i1p25-60.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

LGBT Workplace Inequality in the Federal Workforce: Intersectional Processes, Organizational Contexts, and Turnover Considerations

Author

Listed:
  • Erin A. Cech
  • William R. Rothwell

Abstract

How do lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) employees fare in US workplaces? Beyond formal discrimination, do LGBT workers encounter biases that degrade the quality of their day-to-day workplace experiences? Using a representative sample of more than 300,000 employees in 28 “best case†organizations—federal agencies with LGBT-inclusive policies—the authors examine not only whether these informal workplace inequalities occur but also where and for whom they are most exaggerated. LGBT employees report worse workplace experiences than their colleagues across 16 measures of employee treatment, workplace fairness, and job satisfaction. These inequalities are amplified or tempered by organizational contexts and can even affect turnover intentions. They are also intersectional: LGBT women and people of color have consistently more negative experiences than do men and white LGBT workers. These results help map the landscape of LGBT workplace inequality and underscore the importance of considering intersectional and organizational contexts therein.

Suggested Citation

  • Erin A. Cech & William R. Rothwell, 2020. "LGBT Workplace Inequality in the Federal Workforce: Intersectional Processes, Organizational Contexts, and Turnover Considerations," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 73(1), pages 25-60, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:73:y:2020:i:1:p:25-60
    DOI: 10.1177/0019793919843508
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0019793919843508
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0019793919843508?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. King, Eden B. & Cortina, José M., 2010. "Stated and Unstated Opportunities and Barriers to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Supportive Organizations," Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(1), pages 103-108, March.
    2. Alison J. Bianchi & Soong Moon Kang & Daniel Stewart, 2012. "The Organizational Selection of Status Characteristics: Status Evaluations in an Open Source Community," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(2), pages 341-354, April.
    3. King, Eden B. & Cortina, José M., 2010. "The Social and Economic Imperative of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Supportive Organizational Policies," Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(1), pages 69-78, March.
    4. Weichselbaumer, Doris, 2003. "Sexual orientation discrimination in hiring," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(6), pages 629-642, December.
    5. Erin Reid, 2015. "Embracing, Passing, Revealing, and the Ideal Worker Image: How People Navigate Expected and Experienced Professional Identities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(4), pages 997-1017, August.
    6. M. V. Lee Badgett, 1995. "The Wage Effects of Sexual Orientation Discrimination," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 48(4), pages 726-739, July.
    7. Erin A. Cech & Michelle V. Pham, 2017. "Queer in STEM Organizations: Workplace Disadvantages for LGBT Employees in STEM Related Federal Agencies," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-22, February.
    8. Amanda K. Baumle, 2009. "The Cost of Parenthood: Unraveling the Effects of Sexual Orientation and Gender on Income," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 90(4), pages 983-1002, December.
    9. Jamie H. Douglas & Michael D. Steinberger, 2015. "The Sexual Orientation Wage Gap for Racial Minorities," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 59-108, January.
    10. Schilt Kristen & Wiswall Matthew, 2008. "Before and After: Gender Transitions, Human Capital, and Workplace Experiences," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-28, September.
    11. Dovidio, J.F. & Fiske, S.T., 2012. "Under the radar: How unexamined biases in decision-making processes in clinical interactions can contribute to health care disparities," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 102(5), pages 945-952.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dario Sansone & Christopher S Carpenter, 2020. "Turing’s children: Representation of sexual minorities in STEM," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-16, November.
    2. Mustafa F. Ozbilgin & Cihat Erbil & Sibel Baykut & Rifat Kamasak, 2023. "Passing as resistance through a Goffmanian approach: Normalized, defensive, strategic, and instrumental passing when LGBTQ+ individuals encounter institutions," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 862-880, May.
    3. Jing Wang & David Wicks & Chris Zhang, 2022. "Job‐related well‐being of sexual minorities: Evidence from the British workplace employment relations study," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 60(4), pages 841-863, December.
    4. Tamara L. Lee & Maite Tapia, 2021. "Confronting Race and Other Social Identity Erasures: The Case for Critical Industrial Relations Theory," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 74(3), pages 637-662, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ian Burn & Michael E. Martell, 2022. "Gender typicality and sexual minority labour market differentials," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 60(4), pages 784-814, December.
    2. Jepsen, Christopher & Jepsen, Lisa K., 2009. "Does home ownership vary by sexual orientation?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 307-315, May.
    3. Coral del Río & Olga Alonso‐Villar, 2019. "Occupational Achievements of Same‐Sex Couples in the United States by Gender and Race," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(4), pages 704-731, October.
    4. Ali M Ahmed & Lina Andersson & Mats Hammarstedt, 2011. "Sexual orientation and occupational rank," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 31(3), pages 2422-2433.
    5. Drydakis, Nick, 2009. "Sexual orientation discrimination in the labour market," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 364-372, August.
    6. Doris Weichselbaumer, 2015. "Testing for Discrimination against Lesbians of Different Marital Status: A Field Experiment," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 131-161, January.
    7. Christafore, David & Leguizamon, Sebastian, 2012. "Earnings differences between homosexuals and heterosexuals and the effects of anti-discriminatory laws: equal but still unmarried," MPRA Paper 45267, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Shahar Sansani & Arik Rozental, 2018. "Who Favours The Gay Community? Experimental Evidence Using Charitable Donations," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(1), pages 1-16, January.
    9. Díaz Serrano, Lluís & Meix Llop, Enric, 2015. "Do Schools Discriminate Against Homosexual Parents? Evidence from an Internet Field Experiment," Working Papers 2072/247803, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.
    10. Coral Río & Olga Alonso-Villar, 2019. "Occupational segregation by sexual orientation in the U.S.: exploring its economic effects on same-sex couples," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 439-467, June.
    11. Stijn Baert, 2014. "Career lesbians. Getting hired for not having kids?," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(6), pages 543-561, November.
    12. Doris Weichselbaumer, 2013. "Discrimination in gay and lesbian lives," Chapters, in: Deborah M. Figart & Tonia L. Warnecke (ed.), Handbook of Research on Gender and Economic Life, chapter 15, pages 236-254, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    13. Christopher Carpenter, 2008. "Sexual orientation, income, and non-pecuniary economic outcomes: new evidence from young lesbians in Australia," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 6(4), pages 391-408, December.
    14. Karen Leppel, 2009. "Labour Force Status and Sexual Orientation," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 76(301), pages 197-207, February.
    15. Nick Drydakis, 2009. "Sexual Orientation, Demography and Labor Relations," Working Papers 0906, University of Crete, Department of Economics.
    16. Noah Uhrig, S.C., 2014. "An examination of poverty and sexual orientation in the UK," ISER Working Paper Series 2014-02, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    17. Saoirse Caitlin O'Shea, 2020. "Working at gender? An autoethnography," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(6), pages 1438-1449, November.
    18. Nick Drydakis, 2024. "Trans people, well-being, and labor market outcomes," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 386-386, January.
    19. Jamie H. Douglas & Michael D. Steinberger, 2015. "The Sexual Orientation Wage Gap for Racial Minorities," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 59-108, January.
    20. Sansone, Dario, 2019. "Pink work: Same-sex marriage, employment and discrimination," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:73:y:2020:i:1:p:25-60. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.