Economic Dignity
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LGBTI economic dignity refers to the capability of an LGBTIQ people to care for themselves and their family without financial deprivation, and to participate in the economy in a way that respects and supports self-determined gender and sexuality. This document outlines the elements of this new approach to improving the lives of LGBTI people:
I. A focus on dignity
II. Three pillars
1. Each LGBTI person is able to care for themselves.
2. LGBTI people, families and communities can participate in the economy free from structural and social stigma or subordination.
3. Laws and policies foster economic arrangements which respect the equal dignity of LGBTI people.
III. Why not empowerment or security?
IV. Achieving economic dignity.
I. Focus on Dignity.
In all regions of the world, LGBTI people face stigma, a belief shared by those around them that because they are LGBTI, they have no value as people, workers, students, business owners or neighbors. Stigma drives efforts to exclude, punish and convert LGBTI people.
Dignity is the belief that each human born with inherent worth, endowed with reason and conscience. Respecting a person’s dignity requires that we respect the outcome of the individual’s reasoning process and their support their efforts to follow their own conscience. Denying someone’s reason and conscience is to deny them the ability to do what makes them human.
For LGBTI people, dignity means the capability to understand and live according to their own self-determined gender and sexuality. Dignity is respected when LGBTI people, as well as their sexuality and gender, are valued by society. An LGBTI person’s dignity is violated if they are coerced into being someone they are not. Dignity, which calls for a recognition and support of the worth of LGBTI people, stands in opposition to stigma and the belief that LGBTI people are worthless.
For many LGBTI people, economic arrangements reinforce stigma:
• Understanding and expressing identity. Poverty limits access to information, education and supportive social relationships necessary for LGBTI people to understanding and formulate their own sexuality and gender. In some countries, data shows a connection between higher income and greater acceptance of sexual and gender diversity. Understanding and expressing identity can involve financial burdens, particularly for trans and intersex people who may face medical and legal expenses associated with gender confirmation.
• Family recognition. The lack of recognition for LGBTI families imposes financial costs. Provisions in leases, immigration laws, credit requirements, inheritance laws, and myriad other rules exclude LGBTI families from economic benefits, often requiring them to seek expensive alternative solutions. Enrolling a child in school or taking a partner to the hospital can require legal documentation not necessary for heteronormative families.
• Workplace discrimination. In the workplace, LGBTI people face exclusion and requirements that they hide their identity. As a consequence, LGBTI people face wage disparaties and higher rates of poverty, food insecurity, and poor living conditions.
• Accumulation of human capital. Bullying in school causes LGBTI students to drop out at higher rates than non-LGBTI students. This, along with the physical and psychological impact of discrimination and violence, and exclusion from workplace experiences, can all limit the ability of LGBTI people to accumulate human capital.
• Discrimination in the marketplace. Some LGBTI, particularly transender people, people face high rates of harassment and exclusion from stores, marketplaces, and public transportation. People whose gender does not match their gender assigned at birth may not have access to credit and other financial products and services.
II. The goal of Economic Dignity.
LGBTI economic dignity refers to the capability of LGBTI people to care for themselves and their family without financial deprivation and to participate in the economy in a way that respects and supports self-determined gender and sexuality. The goal of dignity stands on three pillars:
1. Each LGBTI person is able to care for themselves and to understand, express, and live according to their own sexuality and gender.
The role of resources in a person’s life is to provide opportunities to live a life with dignity. The goal of LGBTI economic dignity is measured according to whether LGBTI people have certain capabilities rather than according to whether they have a certain income. Many of the needs of LGBTI people are the same as those of non-LGBTI people. In many ways, the objectives for LGBTI people under this pillar of economic dignity is the same as similar objectives for non-LGBTI people. All people need shelter, food, work, education, and good health.
An important initial step in economic dignity for LGBTI people is to insure they are included in activities intended to benefit the general population. Though the needs and circumstances of LGBTI people overlap with those of non-LGBTI people, they are not the same. For LGBTI people, economic dignity does not equate to having the same economic outcomes and arrangements as non-LGBTI people. Rather, programs that seek to support LGBTI economic dignity need to account for a number of factors:
First, understanding one’s own gender and sexuality, and formulating one’s own identity, has economic and financial consequences for LGBTI that non-LGBTI people do not face. LGBTI people need information about sexuality and gender, the capacity of understand their own identity, and awareness and relationships with others. For trans and intersex people, seeking to live according to their gender can involve medical costs. Poverty can limit access to education, information about sexuality and gender, opportunities for relationships, and appropriate healthcare. An inability to understand and formulate one’s own identity can lead to unhealthy personal development, personal mental anguish, difficulties forming relationships and carrying out life’s plans, and physical health problems.
Second, the lack of legal recognition of gender and same-sex relationships may require LGBTI people to pursue expensive alternatives to proving who they are. When LGBTI people travel, apply for jobs or credit, try to rent an apartment, enroll their children in school, interact with healthcare providers, or simply travel, their legal documents are often insufficient. LGBTI people may be able to work around requirements for such documents by securing alternative forms of documentation, often at their own expense. Often LGBTI people are simply shut out of benefits intended to support families and those in need.
Third, even where laws are supportive, LGBTI people encounter myriad forms of anti-LGBTI stigma and exclusion which often have economic and/or financial consequences. For example, LGBTI people may have to forego cheaper housing or transportation options that are unsafe, or may lose income because of a discriminatory employer.
Fourth, preferences based cultural preferences and a desire to belong to and build supportive communities may lead to different patterns of economic activity. Possible examples include self-segregation into different industries (queer work or purple-collar labor), formation of non-heteronormative family and support structures, living in different neighborhoods, making consumer decisions according to different political and aesthetic considerations, engaging with community groups and churches differently and structuring their lives differently in other ways. The differences are reflected in finances and economic arrangements.
The financial costs associated with stigma and subordination degrade an individual’s ability to meet their own needs. Additionally, LGBTI people are deprived of the equal ability to live their life honestly and authentically when these costs are imposed on LGBTI people but not non-LGBTI people. Economic dignity supports the equal ability of LGBTI people to use resources in a way that reflects their sexuality and gender.
2. LGBTI people, families and communities can participate in the economy free from structural and social stigma or subordination.
LGBTI people frequently encounter stigma, or a shared belief that they are worthless because of the sexuality and gender. Stigma often comes in the form of harassment and attempts to exclude LGBTI people from the workplace, the marketplace, schools, business associations, commerce, corporate leadership, and civic paces. Even in more accepting environments, LGBTI people face subordination when they are included but asked to hide or downplay their identity, or when laws treat LGBTI people as second-class citizens.
Examples of indicators of the impact of stigma include disparities in wages between LGBTI and non-LGBTI workers, the rate of harassment of LGBTI people in workplaces, stores and public transit, proportion of LGBTI people who fear that coming out will endanger their job. Examples of structural stigma include banking rules about gender documentation which prevent access to savings and credit programs, the lack of recognition of same-sex relationships needed to access rental housing and benefit programs, and rules restricting the ability of people to work in certain professions such as police, teaching, or sex work.
3. Laws and policies foster economic arrangements which respect the equal dignity of LGBTI people.
States, as well as non-state institutions, can adopt laws and policies to support LGBTI economic dignity by addressing discrimiantion, recognition, and support. First, discriminatory treatment of LGBTI people should be prohibited. Measures should include bans on discrimination in the workplace, the marketplace, schools, and administration of government program should be prohibited, a prohibition of hate-crimes as well as a ban on conversion therapy or other means of profit derived from homophobia and transphobia. Second, States should give equal recognition to LGBTI families and adopt mechanisms to recognize and provide documentation of gender identity. Third, States should support the ability of all people to understand and formulate their own gender identity through comprehensive sexuality education, the ability of LGBTI people to form civil society organizations, and through programs targeted to improve health outcomes for LGBTI people.
Economic dignity is, at least in part, a measurable outcome. States have unique abilities to gather population data that can reveal disparities in outcomes and opportunities of LGBTI data. Currently, much data collection carries with it the implicit assumption that everyone in the general population is heterosexual and cisgender. Not only would the collection and disaggregation of data help determine economic dignity gaps, but the lack of data collection is itself a continuing indication that LGBTI people face exclusion. Data collection is a necessary component of economic dignity.
III. Why not economic empowerment or security?
Other frameworks, such as economic empowerment or economic security, are inadequate to address the needs of LGBTI people. The set of strategies used to promote economic empowerment and economic security overlap with the strategies used to security economic dignity. However, neither of these frameworks explicitly address the central role that stigma and exclusion plays in LGBTI economic issues.
The term economic empowerment has been used most prominently in the context of women’s economic empowerment (WEE) which refers to strategies to increase women’s power over resources and decisions that impact her, her family and her community. Many women lack the ability to control their own labor, barring them from equal participation in the economy and limiting their agency over their own body. Black economic empowerment (BEE) similarly refers to strategies, such as in South Africa, where BEE policies called for more black ownership of large business.
LGBTI advocates generally do not describe discrimination against LGBTI people in terms of power or control by non-LGBTI people over the labor and resources of LGBTI people. Unlike the labor and bodies of women, which society seeks to benefit from and control through economic disempowerment, the labor and bodies of LGBTI people are seen as worthless and abhorrent. Discrimination aims to exclude, convert or punish LGBTI people.
Economic security, defined as being able to meet one’s basic needs, has also been suggested as a framework for development activities to benefit LGBTI people. The capability to care for one’s self is a pillar of economic dignity. However, by itself, economic security may not adequately address stigma. Even LGBTI people who are able to meet basic needs may be deeply unwell and living below their potential due to prejudice and violence of other economic actors. While the goal of meeting basic needs is important, it does not go far enough to address the existence of anti-LGBTI stigma.
IV. Strategies to achieve economic dignity.
Achieving economic dignity will be a long-term process involving multiple strategies. What follows are strategies that some stakeholders are currently undertaking or considering:
Advocacy:
Advocacy seeking law and policy reform: Economic dignity requires laws and policies that promote the human rights and development outcomes of LGBTI people.
Corporate advocacy: Corporations play a central role in realizing economic dignity. Advocacy includes strategies based on seeking
Data advocacy: Data advocacy refers to advocacy about policies and programs related to collecting, maintaining and analyzing data. This includes advocacy related to how to classify peole of diverse sexuality and gender, how and by whom data will be collected, ethical and safety standards, and how data is used in policy formulate.
Building and sharing knowledge:
Empirical Research: Research studies increase the understanding of the socio-economic circumstances of LGBTI people, the impact of laws and policies on those circumstances, and the relationship between stigma and poverty.
Cross-cultural knowledge:
Skills and capacity of LGBTI people
Entrepreneurial skill building programs. Programs to increase the ability of LGBTI people to secure .
Micro-finance: Globally, the number of microfinance barrowers range from 140 million to over 200 million people annually. Based on what we know about population patters of gender and sexuality, it would be reasonable to expect that between 3 and 10 million LGBTI people should benefit from such programs as well.
Activities to increase LGBTI human capital Opportunities for education and training skills building: Scholarships, computer classes,
Livelyhood:
Support and services for LGBTI people
Skills and capacity of NGOs
Movement building:
Community Centers