Transitioning in Male dominated fields..

[Megan G]

So I guess I might as well give a little background, for the past 8 years I have been working construction after the manufacturing industry took a crap here in Canada. Over that time I have worked my way up from Excavator Operator to Foreman to most recently Project Manager. Last fall I took a position with a company from the USA that had just expanded into Canada (infact I was the 3rd employee hired). I am currently up in Northern Ontario building some projects for them.

The plan was this was a short term job to build up some cash to "set up my family" and aid in my transition as the money was good. Once I was done up here I was going to figure out what to do after this that will better align with me transitioning. Well The CEO and COO from the states has been hinting for the past 4-6 weeks that they had bigger plans for me and they finally let the "cat out of the Bag" the other day and I have been given a promotion to the title of "Director of Ontario Operations". I am now managing all the companies business here in Ontario.

I was thrilled when given this and still am but I am concerned about transitioning in a male dominated field (ie Civil Construction).

So I was wondering if any of you on here that have successfully transitioned while working in a field like this?

Thanks

Megan

[Angela Campbell]

I have. I guess it depends on the culture at the company you work with. I notified my HR about 6 months prior to the transition and we planned it out. It has gone well and now it is as if it never happened. I work and I am respected, and treated well.

I work for a large corporation and I am the only female in my position in the country. There are probably something like 200 men in this division.

[becky77]

It's almost all men in my company too, it does concern me but its impossible to know how it will be? It will depend on company and area, I'm near London so it is a little easier for me as its so cosmopolitan. I appreciate that some areas in America are much much harder to transition, sometimes dangerous by the sounds of it.

Angela, 6 months is a long time what steps where taken in that time?
Is there a right way to do this?

[Angela Campbell]

I contacted them"under cover" to feel them out. They assured me that they would support me so I then told them who I am.

We had meetings with management and discussed my time line. I needed a couple of months off for surgery and legal matters . They needed to change a lot on their end because of the name change.

I took 2 months off for FFS, name change, getting my drivers license etc....



We scheduled a meeting on phone and in a training facility here in Fl. They called in all the employees in Fl, and read them a letter I wrote, employees across the country listened by phone. . They discussed policy on discrimination and then introduced me as angela. This was early February.

I went back to work as me and all has been well.

[becky77]

You know what bothers me, most people in head office have no idea who I am, not saying that's good or bad. Because im coming out as trans I will be company wide news as there isn't any other TS and like most companies they don't have experience of this. I understand the necessity of the process, just seems a shame it will be a big deal.
It's a double edged sword, for my own benefit everyone should be told, but at the same time I hate being in the limelight.
Needs must and all that.

So with the FFS did you leave looking one way and come back another? How did that go down as you must have looked considerably different?

[LeaP]

...I will be company wide news as there isn't any other TS and like most companies they don't have experience of this. I understand the necessity of the process, just seems a shame it will be a big deal.
It's a double edged sword, for my own benefit everyone should be told, but at the same time I hate being in the limelight.
Needs must and all that. ...

I have been thinking about this a lot as I have much the same prospect ahead of me. I don't believe my entire company needs to be informed (this is a large company - I'm not sure how large yours is). Though the messaging should be top-down for a number of reasons, it ultimately needs to go only to those with whom I might interact. In my case that would include the management of my division to the VP level, my entire department, key HR staff, occupants of my office, and a few others. It's still a lot of people, perhaps a few hundred tops, but not 20,000+.

[Angela Campbell]

Once you do it every one in the company will know you. It just cannot be avoided. It is a big deal for a short time but that passes soon. I will not lie that day was the most stressful I can remember.

Yes I looked a bit different but I am still recognizable. It is subtle changes. No one was fooled. Not that I was trying to fool anyone. Make up and weight loss made the biggest difference and hormones a close second.

I was working hard for months to look like a guy at work, so when I appeared as a woman I probably looked quite different.

[Sarah V]

It sounds like you work for an active hands-on owner owned/managed company. E.g. a small firm where the owner(s) are active in the business. This is good and bad, as it seems they certainly like you and your work, so there is the opportunity for you to talk directly with them one on one about who you are and your plans to transition. But at the same time with small owner operated companies, the owners call all the shots - as it is their business and they have no one to answer to but themselves, so negative actions/publicity (for dismissing you on the grounds that you are transgendered) does not really bother them, or their business-----they don't have stock holders who are going to get skittish over the company getting bad press, if you were to go to the court of public opinion with your story about your firm letting you go based upon your transgender orientation.

Tough one.

My only two thoughts would be that 1.) If you are a CDN citizen or working in Canada, you (transgendered folks specifically) might be a protected class under CDN employment law. and 2.) Especially if your firm is working on CDN government funded/backed projects, then there might be some anti-discrimination verbage/requirements in the boilerplate contract clauses of the construction contracts your firm holds with the government. You need to check.

I myself work in a very testosterone driven male dominated field, not in only with the work I do (Construction Engineer), but whom I work for, and if that were not enough, with also two of the organizations I do volunteer work for---can you say, I over compensated a wee bit too much----But, given what I know, and what I have seen/heard from other's experience, and from what I know about how business actually works once the organizations leaders put all their politically correct lip service aside (on how they are all for equality) that they are saying to continue to please the mass media and their customer's, you will probably find your situation at some point, will become very uncomfortable for you at your company the longer you remain there, esp. after the "new-ness" wears off.

You, might get very lucky, and have no problems at all. But that is most likely going to happen in a huge firm with tons of emplyee's, who does a lot of business with the public, and who's reputation, products, and profits can be hurt by negative public opinions.

So, personally, I would not attempt to try to transition at this time, if I were in your shoes, while I was still working for your employer, esp. if things are going well for you other wise. I would personally wait to transition until you leave them, and then you can enter you next employment situation as your female self right from the beginning. Sine the economy is doing well, and you and your company are doing well, stick with working for them, as they sound like a good firm, and I would advise you to continue to build up your piggybank as much as you can, esp. if they want to keep you around. Because one day their work will most likely dry up, and you may be out of a job anyway--but at least you will have a lot more control over your exit from them then.

[Badtranny]

Wow, I was curious to see how this thread would go and I am pleasantly surprised that all of the responses are legitimate and reasonable. Good job girls, perhaps the TS forum still has some legs. ;-)

Megan, I transitioned as the Tech Dept manager for one of the biggest electrical contractors in CA. In the beginning it went very well and I thought I would be able to stay. I'm not gonna say it wasn't hard because as Angela said, that first day walking in was so hard that I had to actually park right in front of the door (in the visitor space) just to motivate myself to get out of my truck. I almost couldn't do it. I almost threw up and I was literally walking stiff legged into the lobby. When I talk about sheer force of will, this is what I'm talking about. ...and then, there were about 30 first days in a row as I went through the process of meeting dozens of people for the first time as Melissa. Clients, Field hands, etc. I had Project Managers and Estimators working for me so I was on job sites and in conference rooms a LOT and you don't know what the phrase 'nerves of steel' really means until you walk into a conference room full of construction dudes and they finally see you for the first time after hearing about you for weeks. Now you have to address them, and lay out your agenda for the project. This is the part of transition that nobody talks about. The part where you are trying to maintain and/or establish your leadership while your stomach is doing flip flops. Worried about my voice? Hell I was worried about just getting the words out.

Transitioning at work is not for the timid. You gotta be a sturdy bitch. ;-)

It was about a year later when things started falling apart at work. The novelty wore off and the senior managers (of which I was one) started to openly have concerns about having somebody like me representing the company. These are people that I've worked with for nearly 13 years so it was kinda hurtful for sure. Shit started to happen and I started looking for a job. My field is starving for talent so finding a job wasn't a problem and I moved on but it was and is financially very difficult. I took a bit of a pay cut to work in a much better situation and while my days are better, my lifestyle is temporarily curtailed due to being a lil short on cash.

I'm not complaining, I'm just saying that my transition cost me a lot professionally (I was on the VP track) and forced me to change career paths for better or for worse. Life's a bitch, especially when you become one.

[Angela Campbell]

After the meetings and all were over, it was quite the experience to go to customer sights, and meet with vendors. I sent a letter to the vp's I worked with thanking them for the way my local(US) HR rep handled it all. I got a letter last week from her thanking me because that letter I sent caused her to get an award.

Still after almost 5 months it can be stressful going to new sites, and meeting new people. Nerves of steel.....better have em.

[Megan G]

Thanks for the responses girls.

The owner/CEO of my company is very involved in the business due to the size, the chain of command goes CEO, COO, then me. We do have a anti discrimination policy that specifically calls out gender and Ontario laws also prevent that but we all know they can always find a reason to let someone go..lol

I am just finishing up some projects then will have a couple of months off before we start our largest project in company history. I am going to wait until that project has started before approaching them about it.

I am sure nerves of steel will be required!!

Megan