Let’s take a moment to discuss ZARA at Oxford, UK, as per a report in The Oxford Mail. I came across this post on my Linkedin timeline and was appalled to see many derogatory remarks on the 21-year-old Girogio who felt “dehumanised” on being turned down for a trial in the “women’s” trial room in the absence of a gender-neutral trial room.
ZARA UK Fails Non-Binary Person
The post shared by some Linkedin user attracted many “dehumanizing” remarks from some* men, some* women, and some* people with disability. I was at a loss for words to see the lack of awareness and respect for a fellow human. I was amazed at how the women and people with disability reacted.
Women who commented there remarked how can a nonbinary man ask for the women’s trial room. It is a matter of safety! A veteran with a disability made some even more weird comment, followed by the men on that post who could not stop critiquing this boy for his gender, looks, and his ask for a trial in a woman’s room in the absence of a gender-neutral one.
This leaves us with room for immense learning about the LGBTQIA community and a lesson for ZARA, UK, for failing in diversity and inclusion metrics. ZARA must apologize to Giorgio for being the reason behind this utter humiliation.
1. Our society has been traditionally binary, which is 0 and 1 between women and men. Patriarchy (not all men) subjugated women for ages. A part of the progressive society created rooms for these women to feel safe in public and hence compartmentalized spaces.
2. In this compartmentalization, a non-binary man, who refuses to conform to patriarchal and physical notions of the male, might feel as vulnerable as a woman who has seen or known women in crisis in public places. In this case of the incident at ZARA, Giorgio only asked for a trial in the women’s section. They didn’t demand to enter a trial room with a woman or when a woman is trialing.
3. Instead, people who commented making fun of Giorgio’s genitalia or the potential of Giorgio donning a non-binary to guise his violent intentions, could have simply asked for ZARA to have a non-binary trial or a gender-neutral trial room. The whole nonbinary bashing is utterly painful. Psychologically, this reflects a poor, uninformed mindset of ZARA administration and people who reacted negatively to the incident.
4. This highlights the need for gender identity and expression training for ZARA’s workers. Employees can avoid acts that may unintentionally damage or discriminate against consumers by encouraging understanding and awareness.
5. Zara has the opportunity to use this occurrence to spark change inside their organization. They can reevaluate their policies, facilities, and employee training programmes to guarantee that all individuals, regardless of gender identity, are treated with decency and respect.
Takeaway
Zara should take advantage of National Pride Month by engaging with the LGBTQ+ community and listening to their voices. Evidently, this is not the first time ZARA as a brand committed something like this. In the past, ZARA paid huge penalties for being discriminatory. Let’s see if ZARA really cares this time! Article Source
