LGBT+ in hostile and supportive contexts: from coping to thriving

Abstract

LGBT+ rights are at best polarised in the international field. Hostile and supportive environments shape LGBT+ experience at work in different ways. Drawing on research from the global north and global south, this presentation explores the interplay of institutional contexts and LGBT+ experience. The presentation also questions whose responsibility it is to provide LGBT+ equality: nations, markets, institutions or individuals. The session will end an exploration of rainbow ladder for possibilities  of promoting LGBT+ inclusion at work in adversarial contexts. This presentation draws on research across 25 years and seeks to bring insights from different temporal, institutional and national contexts to build a relational understanding of LGBT+ inclusion at work.

Speaker

Mustafa F. Özbilgin is a Professor of Organisational Behaviour at Brunel Business School, London. He also holds two international positions: Co-Chaire Management et Diversité at Université Paris Dauphine and Visiting Professor of Management at Koç University in Istanbul. His research focuses on equality, diversity and inclusion at work from comparative and relational perspectives. He has conducted field studies in the UK and internationally, and his work is empirically grounded. Through his research, he promotes evidence based and ethical policy and practice in equality and diversity at work. He is an engaged scholar, driven by values of workplace democracy, equality for all, inclusion and humanisation of work.