Intersectionality and Social Welfare: Avoidance and Unequal Treatment among Transgender Women of Color

• Published date: 01 May 2022
• Author: Adam M. Butz,Tia Sherèe Gaynor
• Date: 01 May 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13468

Intersectionality and Social Welfare: Avoidance and Unequal Treatment among Transgender Women of Color 433

Research Article:

Race and Gender

Symposium

Abstract: This research adds to the emergent literature on intersectionality and public administration through

examining how transgender women of color (trans WOC) are interacting with U.S. social welfare offices. It is our

contention that trans WOC, facing a compounded set of negative stereotypes derived from racial and gender identities,

will be more likely than other transgender identifying persons to: (1) avoid seeking out public welfare benefits and

(2) be more likely to report experiencing discriminatory treatment in social welfare offices. Using data from the

2015 U.S. Transgender Survey we uncover evidence that trans WOC are more likely to avoid social welfare offices

and face discrimination in social welfare offices. Scholars and administrators of social welfare programs, including

Social Security related benefits, should be aware of the potential for public benefit avoidance and administrative

discrimination directed toward historically marginalized groups and prioritize social equity considerations among

clients facing compounded intersectional barriers.

Evidence for Practice

• This research offers evidence that persons with intersecting marginalized identities—identifying as both a

transgender woman and a person of color—face compounded negative social constructions and prejudices

around racial and gender identities, hereby influencing how these individuals will interact with U.S. social

welfare offices, including social welfare avoidance and frontline administrative discrimination.

• Transgender women of color (trans WOC) are found to be significantly more likely, than other transgender

identifying respondents, to both avoid seeking out social welfare benefits and more likely to report

experiencing discriminatory treatment once engaged with social welfare offices. For instance, roughly 1 in 12

trans WOC report avoiding public assistance offices compared with 1 in 20 white transgender women.

• Due to disparities found in both social welfare avoidance and discriminatory treatment against trans WOC,

administrators of social welfare programs should emphasize the application of an intersectional lens in social

equity planning and action directed toward clients facing oppression due to the negative constructions

associated with intersecting marginalized identities, such as transgender WOC.

• Practitioners could accomplish such actions through administrative efforts like inclusive outreach campaigns

that include images or testimonials from trans WOC, the incorporation of implicit bias assessments to help

identify organizational biases related to transgender identifying individuals, redesigned social welfare offices

that emphasize inclusion, such as gender neutral restroom facilities, and increased usage of e-government

benefit application tools that can reduce discriminatory face-to-face interactions.

The social construction of target populations

shape policy design and administrative

decisions in ways that determine who are and

are not worthy of the benefits of policy outcomes

(Schneider and Ingram1993). Policy design and

implementation processes send varying messages to

different social groups. For those with negative social

constructions, paternalistic policies are grounded

in messages linked to value, virtue, and morality

as social order and a desire to “better” individuals

through public policy are embedded within its design

(Soss2005). This is perhaps no truer than for welfare

policies (Gilens1999; Hayat2016; Monnat2010;

Soss2005; Soss, Fording, and Schram2011; Watkins-

Hayes2009).

A voluminous literature examines the ways in

which racial identity, especially Black identity,

has been negatively constructed to be associated

with stereotypes around sluggish work ethic and

extravagant welfare usage, along with documented

discriminatory challenges successfully navigating

public administration systems and the U.S. social

welfare system, specifically (Floyd-Thomas2016;

Gaynor2018; Gilens1999; Hardy, Samudra, and

Davis2019; Keiser, Mueser, and Choi2004; Soss,

Intersectionality and Social Welfare: Avoidance and Unequal

Treatment among Transgender Women of Color

Adam M. Butz

California State University, Long Beach

Tia Sherèe Gaynor

University of Cincinnati

Tia Sherèe Gaynor (she/her) is an

associate professor in Political Science

and director of the Center for Truth,

Racial Healing, and Transformation at

the University of Cincinnati. Her research

focuses on the unjust experiences’

individuals at the intersection of race,

gender identity, and sexual orientation have

when interacting with systemic racism and

social hierarchy in public administration.

Email: gaynorte@ucmail.uc.edu

Adam M. Butz is an associate professor in

the Graduate Center for Public Policy and

Administration at California State University,

Long Beach. He studies U.S. social

policy implementation and evaluation,

cross-sectoral governance, race and social

equity, urban affairs, and representative

bureaucracy. His research has appeared

in scholarly outlets, such as

Social Policy

& Administration, Poverty & Public Policy

,

Evaluation Review

,

Policy Studies Journal

,

and

Cities: The International Journal of

Urban Policy & Planning

.

Email: Adam.Butz@csulb.edu

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 82, Iss. 3, pp. 433–445. © 2022 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.13468.

[Correction added on 16

March 2022, after first online

publication: the word ‘seeks’

in the first sentence of the

Abstract section has been

removed in this version.]