Do we have prejudices about prejudice?

Pride month June: A talk with Madeleine – electrician and transgender.

The electrical industry and most other craftsmen professions are often perceived as a male world with sometimes coarse jargon. But is this prejudice really true? We had a conversation with the electrician Madeleine who in 2017 came out as transgender.

You started working as an electrician with the name Nicklas, tell me.
I grew up in the 80s and 90s, a time when there was not much talk about LGBTQIA+, you grew up with the nuclear family as the norm. Possible that it was mentioned in passing that boys could like boys and girls could like girls but it was in the periphery. Since primary school, I've always felt different without understanding why. I was jealous of the girls in the class, how they dressed and how they behaved but I had no frame of reference to understand the connection.

Much later, more precisely in February 2017, I felt it was time to deal with what was fret inside and I then wrote a remittance to get help from the healthcare system. There was then an eight-month waiting period to get an investigation into gender dysphoria. It can be experienced as an eternity for someone who feels bad and seeks help, but in my case it became a "trial period" where after taking the first step I really had time to think. Today, the waiting time for a first contact with healthcare on the subject is two to three years, which of course is a tragedy for those who feel bad and want help. It is a combination of the fact that there is so much more information online so that more people who are in that position seek help earlier, a care that has not kept up, political decisions, difficult to recruit knowledgeable staff and a stigmatized subject.

The investigation gave me the answers I had asked myself all these years and all the pieces fell into place for me. I chose a few people to open up to at first, including the HR manager at Elcenter. The support was enormous and I felt safe to tell my family and colleagues. Just before the summer of 2017, I told all my colleagues and shortly thereafter I went home on parental leave. In 2018 I came back as Madeleine. The name change was the easiest in this whole process. I have always been who I am today, but today I don't add or take anything away from my personality. Elcenter as an employer was extremely supportive from day one, their LGBTQIA+ policy was updated already a week after I opened up for them. I had to slow them down a bit myself as they wanted to arrange a new changing room and the like right away. The support of both managers and colleagues has helped me a lot and there have never been any oddities.

Never really? Prejudices about crude jargon are close at hand here.
I may have been lucky, but I have escaped all that. Maybe it's helped that I've always loved big things with the smell of diesel.

Tractors and high heels, what a nice combo
Yes, we are all different and everything works. There are many people who judge too quickly. Even within the LGBTQIA+ movement, there may be comments about how to be and not as a transgender person. But the whole purpose is for people to be who you are.

Other craftsmen you have encountered, how have the reactions been there?
Everyone has been super nice and accepted it from day one. No one has ever said anything stupid or crossed the line. I think the group of craftsmen see themselves as just craftsmen.

So the prejudice about the craftsmanship may not be true?
Maybe not. Craftsmen have a great community as a group and everyone there can relate to the different professional roles. My view is that you are somehow your professional practice here. I'm Madeleine - the electrician . As long as you know what you are doing and do a good job, you are accepted in the community. Maybe it would have been worse if I had done a bad job, then maybe it would have sounded different but I have never heard any complaint.

What about the customers? Have they reacted?
I meet a lot of people when I'm out working and of course I stand out because I have long hair, earrings and breasts. I think that most people in Borås who have needed electricians know who I am. But there has never been a situation with private customers either, I do not enter into any discussions, I am there to do a job. I have consistently been met with love, openness and curiosity. Having said that, I am always a little on my guard and feel that I need to have backbone, be strong and knowledgeable. I have also heard stories of female electricians who have suffered sexism, which is completely unacceptable and must go.

So maybe there's something in the prejudice anyway. Nexans recently signed the Diversified Electricity Industry, what do you think of such initiatives?
It is a complex question and there are no given answers. Thanks to various initiatives, media attention and representation in more places, the LGBTQIA+ movement has been able to grow stronger over the years and become more accepted by ordinary people in Sweden. At the same time, we cannot force people into the industry who do not have the interest. Interest and competence must always be included as a driving force as well.

You say "in Sweden"
Yes, unfortunately, the opposites also work out there and countries such as the United States today ban trans people from both one and the other. We also have discussions at home where it is questioned whether drag queens should be allowed to read stories to children, etc. The LGBTQIA+ movement has become a bat in the debate and today it is more about retaining rights than getting more.

It sounds gloomy, what do you say to those who today are in the position you were in 2017?
You have to dare.  It doesn't have to be shit, which is probably the idea they have. Based on my experience, it turned out very well. Choose people you trust at first when you open up, and then take it little by little. There are pros and cons to everything, but in this case, the benefits of being who you are trump it. If you do not have a person you dare to open up to, my door is always open, I am happy to help as best I can.

Did you have someone to look up to or consult?
When I came out, there wasn't as much information and no direct role models I could lean on. It was mostly Google searches and Youtube clips. Now there are more people who have made the trip public and today I can relate a lot to Tone Sekelius' journey.

What can you do as an employer?
Be well-read. Having a basic understanding of people is a good prerequisite. You cannot have a plan for everything and most people are unaccustomed to the question, but as long as you are tolerant and deal with the situation, you will go far. Sweeping it under the carpet is never a solution.

Thank you for your openness Madeleine now only the question remains of which Nexans cable you like the most?
I use a lot of your control and signal cables for fire alarms and similar. ELAQBY is used a lot.

During the month of June, we will hoist the Pride flag in Grimsås together with all Nexans' workplaces. We do this to show our support and draw attention to what the LGBTQIA+ movement has done and is doing for diversity and the equal value of all people. Nexans stands up for the right of all people to be who they are and to love who they love. Take care of each other out there.