Reconceptualising the gender/productivity relation beyond the gender binary: an exploration of the productivity narratives of transgender and gender non-conforming workers in the UK

While the relation between gender and productivity has been predominantly explored in management and organization studies literature along the rigid boundaries of the gender binary, the perspectives of transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) workers have received little attention. Moreover, whereas studies have illustrated how productivity is a gendered construct that favours cis-gender men over cis-gender women at work, alternative conceptualisations of productivity have rarely been explored. Aiming to come to a more flexible and gender-minority-inclusive conceptualisation of the gender/productivity relation, this study analyses 19 interviews with TGNC workers in the UK and develops an alternative notion of productivity based on Queer Theory. The findings illustrate how TGNC workers produce narratives in which they portray the lack of queer productivity in the workplace as requiring emotional and queer labour. They engage in discourses that present these forms of gendered labour as draining them from resources they could otherwise invest in their individual hegemonic productivity. Simultaneously, they portray workplaces where they are not engaging in gendered labour as environments where their individual hegemonic productivity is facilitated. This paper contributes to the literature by reconceptualising productivity as a multiplicity, and by reframing the gender/productivity relation beyond its binary frameworks of reference. It also highlights the significance of social-identity-sensitive notions of productivity, and it illuminates forms of minoritised gender inequality tied to productivity dynamics in the workplace.