Academic Papers

Perales F, Mabin J, Elkin N, Tomaszewski W. Diversity & Inclusion Research. 2025:7-21.doi: 10.1002/dvr2.70035

A new article, co-authored by our very own Nicki Elkin, has been published in Diversity & Inclusion Research. This is groundbreaking Australian research into employees’ perceptions of their own diversities, particularly those missing from standard survey instruments, using Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI) employee survey data.

ABSTRACT

Over recent years, there has been increasing scholarly attention on how individuals’ diversities and their intersections affect workplace experiences, which can in turn shape their work outcomes. While existing evidence often relies on workplace surveys, the diversity questions included in those surveys may not encompass all diversity aspects deemed important by those with lived experience. Within this context, the present study aims to contribute to knowledge by examining employees’ perceptions of their own diversities, particularly those missing from standard survey instruments. To achieve this, we apply qualitative content analysis to 3051 responses to an open-ended diversity question in the 2024 Australian Workplace Equality Employee Survey. Our results indicate that caring responsibilities, age/life-course stage, socioeconomic status, diverse family structure and reproductive health were aspects of diversity relevant to employees’ workplace experiences that were missing from the survey questionnaire. The analyses also revealed how a non-negligible share of employees peruse the open-ended diversity question within the survey to express negative ideological views about diversity-and-inclusion practice. These findings bear important implications for the design of socio-demographic and diversity modules within survey instruments, particularly those concerned with workplace diversity. Amongst others, they offer novel evidence of additional and less-well-understood diversities to be considered, while also warning about serious challenges to the collection and use of diversity data posed by diversity-and-inclusion detractors.

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Ablaza C, Perales F, Elkin N. The Economic and Labour Relations Review. Published online 2025:1-18. doi:10.1017/elr.2025.8

A new article, co-authored by our very own Nicki Elkin, has been published in The Economic and Labour Relations Review. This is groundbreaking Australian research into employment arrangements and workplace wellbeing for LGBTQ+ people, using Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI) employee survey data.

Abstract

Despite societal shifts in attitudes towards gender and sexuality, LGBTQ+ individuals continue to experience multiple forms of labour-market disadvantage – including greater unemployment, lower job satisfaction, and slower career progression. However, existing scholarship has paid little attention to the comparative employment conditions of LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ individuals. Leveraging unique data from a large, Australian, employer-employee dataset (2024 AWEI Employee Survey), we fill this knowledge gap by examining the relationships between LGBTQ+ status, non-standard employment (NSE), and workplace well-being. Consistent with our theoretical expectations, we provide novel empirical evidence of the ‘double whammy’ faced by LGBTQ+ employees in relation to NSE. On the one hand, LGBTQ+ employees are more likely to be in certain forms of NSE than non-LGBTQ+ employees; on the other, their workplace well-being is more negatively impacted by these employment arrangements. These findings bear important lessons for policy and practice, indicating that closing the gap between LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ workers requires careful consideration of their employment arrangements and the circumstances that surround them.

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Perales, F., Ablaza, C. & Elkin, N. Who Are ‘They’? Gender-Neutral Pronoun Adoption by Non-Binary People and Other Gender Groups. Sex Roles 91, 26 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-025-01577-3

Abstract

The increasing share of individuals adopting gender-neutral pronouns as their personal pronouns represents one of the most significant socio-linguistic shifts of the past decade. Academic research in this space, however, is surprisingly limited. This study relies on unique data from an Australian equity and diversity survey (N = 41,157) to provide first-time empirical evidence on the factors underpinning the adoption of gender-neutral pronouns, focusing on gender identity, outness, allyship, sexual orientation, and other social locations. Our results reveal a high degree of overlap between non-binary identification and adoption of gender-neutral ‘they’ pronouns. However, a non-negligible share of non-binary individuals do not use these pronouns, whereas a small-to-moderate share of individuals from binary genders do so. Not being ‘out’ about their gender identity precluded adoption of ‘they’ pronouns amongst non-binary people, whereas being an active ally, a woman, and sexuality-diverse fostered their adoption amongst binary-gender individuals. These results carry important practical lessons for diversity-and-inclusion training and interpersonal interactions in social settings.

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Perales, F., Giang, M., & Elkin, N. (2025). International Journal of Transgender Health, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/15532739.2025.2469278

A new article, co-authored by our very own Nicki Elkin, has been published in the International Journal of Transgender Health. This is groundbreaking Australian research using Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI) employee survey data.

Inclusive public-toilet access by trans and gender diverse individuals has been the subject of intense public and legislative debate. This study offers first-time evidence on the associations between trans and gender diverse people’s ability to use toilets of choice and access all-gender toilets within the workplace and their health and wellbeing. Having access to toilets of choice and all-gender toilets exhibited large and statistically significant effects on trans and gender diverse employee wellbeing. These relationships were apparent among binary and non-binary trans employees, and across employee-wellbeing domains. Appropriate access to public-toilet facilities must be incorporated within ongoing policy efforts to improve the wellbeing of trans and gender diverse individuals and redress entrenched health disparities for this population.

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Journal of Interpersonal Violence 1–23
© The Author(s) 2024
Francisco Perales1 , Alice Campbell1 and Nicki Elkin2

A new article, co-authored by our very own Nicki Elkin, has been published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence.

This groundbreaking Australian research builds on earlier studies that indicate the prevalence of workplace sexual harassment is increasing, and that workplace-sexual-harassment victimisation has a negative impact on employees’ health and wellbeing.

Using Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI) employee survey data, it examines how these impacts vary for LGBTQ+ employees.

For the first time, this study demonstrates that LGBTQ+ employees suffer a “double burden” in relation to workplace-sexual-harassment victimisation. Firstly, they are more likely to be exposed to it, compared with non-LGBTQ+ employees. Secondly, they experience more profound decreases in wellbeing when it occurs, compared with non-LGBTQ+ employees.

The study highlights that targeted solutions to prevent this situation are urgently required. For instance, ensuring that people with diverse genders and sexualities play a role in designing policies and overseeing grievance procedures has been argued to be key to preventing and responding to workplace sexual harassment. The findings make it clear that efforts to mitigate workplace sexual harassment should move hand-in-hand with diversity and inclusion policies that make workplaces a safe environment for individuals of all genders and sexualities.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/08862605241285994 or Download Here

For more information and support ensuring your workplace policies and procedures are inclusive for employees of all genders and sexualities, contact Pride in Diversity.

Objectives. To provide empirical evidence of the positive effects of exposure to inclusive language on trans employees’ well-being.

Methods. We leveraged unique data from a large Australian national survey of workplace diversity and inclusion (2020 Australian Workplace Equality Index Employee Survey), focusing on a subset of trans respondents (n = 453). We derived self-reported and aggregate-level measures of exposure to trans-inclusive language and created a multidimensional index of employee well-being. We examined their relationships using fully adjusted random-intercept multilevel regression models.

Results. We found strong, positive, and statistically significant associations between different indicators of exposure to inclusive language at work and trans employees’ well-being. These relationships were large in magnitude and emerged in the presence of an encompassing set of sociodemographic and workplace controls, including other markers of workplace diversity and inclusion (e.g., victimization experiences and identity disclosure).

Conclusions. Our results provide robust evidence indicating that efforts to foster inclusive language at work can yield substantial, positive effects on trans people’s feelings of belonging and inclusion, thereby contributing to their overall socioeconomic integration. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(3):482–490.)

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ABSTRACT
Understanding the processes contributing to equality of opportunity and outcomes in contemporary societies is at the core of the discipline of sociology. This paper illustrates the value of administrative data to underpin research aimed at identifying, monitoring, and addressing socio-economic disparities between population groups. To accomplish this, I draw on three case studies of recent empirical research leveraging administrative data to examine pro-cesses contributing to the (re)production of inequalities by sexual orientation. Collectively, the three case studies exemplify how data sources that fall within the broad category of ‘administrative data’ can help social researchers generate new, policy-relevant knowledge on socio-economic inequalities, as well as robust information to contextualize public and legislative debate. The paper concludes with a discussion of the promises and challenges of using administrative data to understand inequalities by sexual orientation, as well as inequalities between other minority and majority groups.
Keywords –Equality, transparency, positive duties, mainstreaming

Perales, F. (2021). “The Road less Travelled: using Administrative Data to Understand Inequalities by Sexual Orientation.” Law in Context, 37 (2)

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Francisco Perales · Christine Ablaza · Wojtek Tomaszewski · Dawn Emsen‑Hough

Journal: Sexuality Research and Social Policy

DOI: 10.1007/s13178-021-00592-9

Publication Date: 2021-05-31

Abstract
Introduction

As the benefits of workplace inclusion become progressively recognized, employers are making greater efforts to cultivate inclusive organizational environments where employees from diverse backgrounds can thrive. Yet academic research has often neglected issues of sexual orientation and gender diversity. We contribute to redressing this knowledge gap by examining processes of workplace inclusion for employees with diverse genders and sexualities, focusing on an under-researched area—the role of language.

Methods

Using a regression framework, we empirically examine how different individual and workplace factors are associated with employees’ inclusive language use toward their trans- and gender-diverse colleagues. To accomplish this, we undertook the first-ever analyses of unique survey data from the 2020 Australian Workplace Equality Index Employee Survey (n~27,000 employees and~150 employers).

Results

Our results highlight the role of employees’ socio-demographic characteristics (e.g., their gender and sexual orientation, age, education, and religiosity) as well as the role of features of the workplace environment (e.g., employer’s size, location, and inclusion culture).

Conclusions

While use of appropriate language toward individuals with diverse genders and sexualities constitutes an important stepping stone to their workplace inclusion, this study has demonstrated that its adoption remains incomplete and highly segmented.

Social Policy Implications

These findings bear important implications for the design, targeting, and implementation of programs aimed at fostering trans-affirming language and the workplace inclusion of individuals from sexual and gender minorities.
Keywords Diversity · Inclusion · Language · Transgender · Gender diversity · Workplace

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Francisco Perales

Abstract

Despite growing recognition that lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and other minority (LGBTQ+) employees have lower levels of workplace wellbeing than cis-gender heterosexual employees, few studies have examined how different workplace interventions may mitigate these disparities. This study provides first-time evidence of associations between LGBTQ+ employee wellbeing and two types of initiatives that have received substantial public attention and employer uptake: workplace gender and sexuality diversity training and ally (or employee) networks. To accomplish this, the analyses leverage Australian data from a unique, national employer-employee survey of workplace inclusion (2020 Australian Workplace Equality Index Employee Survey; n = 31,277). These data were used to derive individual- as well as organizational-level measures of diversity training and ally behaviors, and to estimate their associations with a multidimensional index of LGBTQ+ employee wellbeing using fully adjusted random-intercept multilevel regression models. The results indicated that all individual- and organizational-level measures of workplace diversity training and ally behaviors exhibited positive, large, and statistically significant associations with the LGBTQ+ employee wellbeing index, controlling for an extensive set of confounds and organization-specific random effects. These findings have significant implications for health policy and practice. Specifically, they indicate that diversity training and ally networks may improve wellbeing amongst LGBTQ+ employees. This suggests that employer investments in diversity training and ally networks are effective interventions to enhance workplace culture, employee productivity and intergroup relations.

Perales, F., Campbell, A. & Elkin, N. Reproducing the Hetero-Masculine Order at Work: The Sexual Harassment of LGBTQ + Employees. Sex Res Soc Policy (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-025-01182-9

Abstract

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