Perceptions around gender are changing rapidly. Companies must understand how to navigate this universe, but that's easier said than done. In this session, Lisa Kenney — CEO of Reimagine Gender — will be your guide, explaining what gender is (and isn't) in the first place. Lisa will provide concrete tips on how to create more inclusive processes, policies, and practices. Furthermore, Lisa will address topics including pronouns, training, and job application forms, and will also share broader insights about how gender affects every person at the company. There will also be plenty of time to answer your questions on gender.

1. Reimagining Gender:
Is Your HR Organization Ready to
Navigate This New Reality?
Lisa Kenney Rebecca Komathy
With: Moderated by:
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2. Lisa Kenney is the CEO of Reimagine Gender, an organization dedicated to helping create environments free
of constricting gender norms, where everyone is empowered to be their authentic self. Lisa also served as the
Executive Director of Reimagine Gender's sibling organization, Gender Spectrum. Before that, Lisa served in a
number of corporate leadership roles, including VP of Strategic Technology at Incyte Genomics and VP of
Global Marketing at Genedata. Lisa is a featured speaker at conferences, including SXSW, the 3%
Conference, Institute for the Future, Sustainable Brands and The Shared Value Leadership Summit, and has
published articles about gender in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Fortune and
Quartz at Work.
Rebecca attended California State University, Long Beach, where she earned her M.F.A. in Creative Writing with a
concentration in Fiction. After working in the publishing and English education fields, she became more interested in
the information science and business aspects. She is attending SJSU for her second Master’s, this time in Library
and Information Science so she can learn more about digital curation. She currently works at Aggregage as a
Webinar Coordinator. When she’s not working, she is probably snuggling with her French bulldog named Kira.
Reimagining Gender:
Is Your HR Organization Ready to
Navigate This New Reality?
About Rebecca Komathy
About Lisa Kenney

3. Reimagining Gender
Is Your HR Organization Ready to
Navigate This New Reality?
Lisa Kenney
CEO, Reimagine Gender
November 4th, 2020

4. Agenda
• Important ways gender is
evolving
• 3 dimensions of gender
• How gender is related to, but
distinct from, sex and
sexuality
• Applying the 3 dimensions:
considering gender in our
own lives
• Gender-related challenges
and opportunities in
HR/Recruiting

5. A Few
Thoughts As
We Begin
Discussions of gender are
everywhere
• It’s ok if you’re struggling
to figure out what it all
means… and you’re not
alone if you are confused
• Concepts and language
are being discussed,
even as new terms are
being created
• This is meant to be a safe
place for discussion

6. A Reimagining of Gender is Underway
56%
of Gen Zers know
someone who uses a
gender neutral pronoun.
J. Walter Thompson
12%
of millennials identify
as transgender or gender
non-conforming.
Harris Poll
23%
of Gen Zers expect to change
their gender identity at least once
during their lifetime.
Irregular Labs

7. While Much of This Isn’t New…
The breadth and depth of the shift in how we understand, define
and express gender is touching every part of society.
Globally Personally

8. When We Talk About
Gender, What Do We
Mean?

9. Dimensions of Gender
• Body
• Identity
• Social
• Each dimension is a spectrum and independent of,
but related to the others
Constructions of gender affect everyone.

10. Dimensions of Gender: Body
Our body, our experience of our own body, how society genders
bodies, and how others interact with us based on our body.
• Gender is more than our sex. Can you think of ways that bodies
are gendered? Are certain characteristics identified as more, or
less feminine/masculine?
• How does that affect how we each experience our own body?
The bodies of others?

11. Dimensions of Gender: Identity
The name we use to convey our gender. Identities typically fall into
these categories:
• binary (e.g. man, woman, transman*, transwoman*)
• non-binary (e.g. genderqueer, genderfluid)
• ungendered (e.g. agender, genderless)
The meaning associated with an identity can vary among individuals
using the same term.
A person’s gender identity can correspond to, or differ from, the sex
they were assigned at birth.

12. Dimensions of Gender: Social
How we present our gender in the world
+
How individuals, society, culture, and community
perceive, interact with, and try to shape our gender.
Social gender includes gender roles and expectations and how society
uses those to try to enforce conformity to current gender norms.

13. Gender
Congruence
Each of us seeks to
experience congruence
(agreement, harmony) in
the 3 dimensions.

14. Personal
Gender
We are all more than our
gender: we are also our race,
ethnicity, class, faith
community, sense of
geographic place, family
history, personal
characteristics, etc.
Our gender is personal
because while we share some
of these aspects of self with
others, how all of these
identities, influences, and
characteristics come together
is unique to each of us.

15. Gender Is
Different
From
Sexual
Orientation
• Gender is personal
• Sexual orientation is
relational/interpersonal
A person’s physical,
sexual, and/or romantic
attraction to others.

16. A Few Things
to Keep in
Mind
• It’s a natural tendency, but
making assumptions about
someone’s gender can be a
costly mistake
• ”Reading” someone’s gender
• Assuming pronouns
• Selection of gender identities
in our systems is important
• The language we use makes
a difference
• ZipRecruiter analysis: Job
listings with gender-neutral
wording get 42% more
responses

17. Questions So Far?

18. Understanding Our Own
Gender Story

19. Your Gender Story
• Growing up, did you think of yourself as a boy, a girl, both, neither or in
some other way? How did you come to that recognition? When?
• What messages did you receive from those around you about gender? Did
those messages make sense to you?
• What’s your first memory of gender defining or impacting your life?
• How were kids who did not fit into expectations about gender treated by
others (teachers, family, faith community, etc.)? By you?
• How have your race, ethnicity, faith, class, community/sense of place
influenced your gender?
• How would you describe your gender, taking into account all 3
dimensions?
• How has your understanding of gender influenced your personal life? Your
professional life?

20. HR & Recruiting:
Challenges and Opportunities

21. Common Mistakes to Avoid
• Asking for gender when it’s not needed
• Using sex, rather than gender identifiers, when asking for gender
• Pronouns- not including/requiring
• Messaging gender in the binary
• Over-reliance on ERGs for subject-matter expertise
• Allowing compliance reporting to drive how you capture
gender information
• Talking about gender without a common language and shared
understanding - and why it is critical to your organization’s
success

22. Actions You Can Take Today
• Understand your own gender story
• Utilize a gender lens in your organization: what do you see?
• Begin establishing gender literacy across your organization-
and tie it to your business objectives
1. Start with your executives- gender story questions can be helpful!
2. Express your commitment to creating a gender-inclusive
organization for everyone
3. Share the dimensions, gender story questions and other
foundational information with everyone in the organization (and
outside organizations)

23. Thoughts? Comments?
Questions?

24. Thank you!

25. Rebecca Komathy
With: Moderated by:
CEO, Reimagine Gender
LinkedIn page: /in/lisakenney/
Website: reimaginegender.org
Email: info@reimaginegender.org
Lisa Kenney
Webinar Coordinator, Human Resources Today
LinkedIn page: /in/rebeccakomathy/
Twitter ID: @hrposts
Website: humanresourcestoday.com
Email: rebecca@aggregage.com
https://www.humanresourcestoday.com/frs/14664647/reimagining-gender--is-your-hr-organization-ready-to-navigate-this-new-reality-/
https://www.recruitingbrief.com/frs/14664647/reimagining-gender--is-your-hr-organization-ready-to-navigate-this-new-reality- 25
Q&A