Transgender and non-binary people gravitate towards work in the arts, a recent analysis of 2021 federal census data indicates.
The analysis, by Ontario-based Hill Strategies Research, says one in every 20 non-binary people who work is an artist, while one in every 51 transgender workers is an artist.
"Artists represent 1.9 per cent of all transgender people and a remarkable 5.1 per cent of all non-binary people in the Canadian labour force," the analysis says. "Both of these percentages are much higher than those for cisgender women (1.1 per cent) and cisgender men (0.9 per cent)."
Cisgender people's gender corresponds to their sex at birth.
Overall, some 2,500 transgender and non-binary people work as artists, including 800 transgender and 1,700 non-binary people.
That includes a broad range of different types of artists, from actors and visual artists to authors, musicians and dancers.
As well, 7,400 transgender and non-binary Canadians work in occupations in the arts, culture and heritage sectors, including 2,700 transgender and 4,700 non-binary people.
The analysis is based on two questions asked by Statistics Canada: What was a person's sex at birth and what is this person's gender.
Statistics Canada explains its transgender and non-binary groupings as follows: "For many people, their gender corresponds to their sex at birth (cisgender men and cisgender women). For some, these do not align (transgender men and transgender women) or their gender is not exclusively 'man' or 'woman' (non-binary people)."
The federal agency found some 101,000 people aged 15 and older self-identified as transgender or non-binary, including 59,460 people who were transgender and 41,355 who were non-binary.
Together, they represented 1 in 300 people, or 0.33 per cent of the population aged 15 and older.
Source: Hill Strategies
