Gender Relations Back in Spotlight at Harvard: MBA News

By QS Contributor Updated Dec 04, 2019

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Introduction
Harvard Business School acceptance can help break stigma

Gender Relations Back in Spotlight at Harvard: MBA News main image

Following recent revelations about Harvard Business School’s attempts to improve gender relations on campus, an MBA student who enrolled last year has now spoken out about her transgender identity.

In doing so, ‘Del’, as she prefers to be known, becomes the first openly transgender individual to be admitted onto any top management program in the US.

“I don’t feel that being trans at Harvard Business School has held me back in any way. But make no mistake: that it has been no big deal is a very big deal indeed”, Del said in an interview with The Atlantic.

The article makes clear that Del is someone who, based purely on appearance, could easily have blended into Harvard’s campus. The fact that she has chosen not to is therefore not only bold, but also carefully premeditated.

Harvard Business School acceptance can help break stigma

It is welcoming to hear that Del has not felt duly uncomfortable among her peers. Indeed, she raises the issue of gender relations as a concern only when discussing the annual costume ball that also displeases just about every female student at Harvard Business School.

“Any difference I can make by being here is dwarfed by the impact the school and my peers have had by embracing a trans student as one of their own. They are the ones who are changing the world”, she affirms.

Therein lies the reason for her openness about her identity. Whilst homosexuality is much less of a divisive subject than it has been in the past, society has yet to fully understand the gender relations issues attached to transgender identity.

Lack of understanding strongly affects their employment prospects, for instance, as bosses will not take a chance on someone whose identity could make customers feel uncomfortable. Therefore, many transgender people are forced to earn livings in ways that only serve to reinforce the negative stigma often attributed to them.

“The only exposure the average person has to transgender issues is from overwhelmingly false media stereotypes. We haven't had our Will & Grace [a hugely popular US sitcom featuring the lives of openly gay men] moment yet, so coming out usually needs to be accompanied by a lot of education”, Del adds.

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