Source: French to English Tester Published on: 2026-04-27
Source: The Conversation – France (in French)– By Clotilde Coron, Professor of Management Sciences, University Paris-Saclay
On April 26th, Lesbian Visibility Day takes place, which aims to highlight role models, celebrate lesbian culture, and fight against lesbophobia. The issue of visibility in the professional environment deserves to be brought to the forefront all the more because lesbians are exposed to more violence and discrimination.
Lesbian Visibility Day, April 26, is all the more necessary especially in the world of work since lesbians experience a double invisibility. First of all, they are almost absent from public discourse, the media, and cultural representations. This lack of visibility can notably hinder the awareness of sexual orientation, and some lesbians interviewed as part of the survey explain that they built a heterosexual life (with a partner and children) before realizing that they were lesbians.
Then, aA large number of lesbian employees hide their sexual orientation at work. More precisely,according to our investigation, 14% of lesbian employees declare that none of their colleagues know their sexual orientation. This strategy of non-disclosure is costly in terms of relationships, knowing thatMany conversations at work, for example in socialization settings like coffee breaks and lunch breaks, are about daily life (leisure, family, children…).
The cost of non-disclosure
It requires speaking very little about one’s daily life, or speaking in the “I” to avoid mentioning the existence of a partner, or even saying “he” when talking about one’s partner to appear heterosexual. 28% declare that they reveal their sexual orientation only to a small group of colleagues whose open-mindedness they have previously verified. This strategy thus happens in two stages: first, it involves launching conversation topics focused on progressive values to identify how colleagues position themselves, and then, in a second step, to reveal one’s sexual orientation.
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It is mentally taxing because it requires remembering which colleagues know and which do not, and adapting one’s words and the way one talks about daily life depending on the circles of colleagues. A lesbian woman interviewed also recounts a situation in which, upon meeting a colleague she knows vaguely on the street, she asked her partner to let go of her hand. The latter said, “I thought your colleagues were aware,” to which she replied, “Yes, they are aware, but not her in particular.”
An overexposure to violence and discrimination
This invisibility is partly explained by the fact that lesbians are disproportionately exposed to violence and discrimination at work,as is also the case in public space. For example, still according to our survey, 10% of lesbian employees report having been victims of physical violence in their workplace, compared to 3% of heterosexual female employees and 7% of gay male employees. 23% report having been victims of psychological and moral violence, compared to 14% of heterosexual female employees and 18% of gay male employees. Finally, 9% have been victims of sexual violence, compared to 4% of heterosexual female employees and 7% of gay male employees.
These figures show a strong overexposure of lesbian employees to violence, and this overexposure is also found for discrimination: 27% of lesbian employees believe they have already been discriminated against because of their gender or sexual orientation in their workplace, compared to 11% of heterosexual employees.
Ambient lesbophobia
The collected accounts reveal various forms ofmicro-aggressions and violence, ranging from clumsiness, to sexual assaults, including homophobia or an ambient lesbophobia, that is to say homophobic or lesbophobic remarks not directed at the person who hears them. As recounted by one of the lesbian employees interviewed, Sarah, who works in a middle school:
“They’re still teenagers, and we know how it spreads. There are issues where indeed I had a young person last week who told me: ‘I don’t like him because he’s gay.’ Well, there you go, clearly, I am also confronted with this. So, it weighs on me and I also know how it is conveyed and potentially the negative image that some have.”
The “breadwinner” model
Data on professional success (career, salary) show astonishing results. Indeed, while they are more exposed to violence and discrimination than heterosexual female employees, lesbian employees seem less penalized regarding salary, access to promotion, or access to managerial positions. For example, according to our survey, 43.7% of lesbian employees have managerial responsibilities, compared to 38.4% of heterosexual employees. One possible explanation for this lesser penalty faced by lesbian employees may lie in the fact that they are less subject to gender norms, especially tomodel of a “breadwinner”, which still largely dominates heterosexual couples, and in which household income is supposed to depend primarily on the husband’s salary and therefore his professional success.
Lesbian couples are also much more egalitarian in terms of the division of household chores, and moreover, lesbian employees work part-time less often than heterosexual employees. All of this can lead them to devote both more time and greater importance to their work, their pay, and their careers. Some lesbian employees interviewed also report the existence of stereotypes about lesbian women that can advantage them professionally (notably the fact that lesbian women are perceived as having more “masculine” characteristics) while at the same time pigeonholing them.
Ultimately, this investigation suggests avenues for organizations wishing to commit to the inclusion of lesbian employees:
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make their existence visible, for example by taking into account the issues related to sexual orientation in gender equality policies and the issues related to gender in LGBT+ engagement policies, or by highlighting role models;
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raise awareness about the persistence of violence, discrimination, and stereotypes;
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affirm a zero-tolerance policy towards sexist, homophobic, and lesbophobic acts and statements.
Theproject “ODILE”is supported by the National Research Agency (ANR), which funds project-based research in France. The ANR’s mission is to support and promote the development of fundamental and applied research in all disciplines, and to strengthen the dialogue between science and society. For more information, visit the website of theANR.
Clotilde Coron received funding from the ANR (project “ODILE”) for the project from which the book originates.
–ref. Lesbians at work: invisibility, discrimination, and professional success –https://theconversation.com/lesbiennes-au-travail-invisibilite-discriminations-et-reussite-professionnelle-280679