coming out as trans at work?

[FlowerPunkPrincess]

so basically i'm going on work placement in france in two months. i'm going to be working with a small-ish company in the tourism industry as part of my university degree and, since i'm not officially out to my university and i haven't had my gender transition legally recognised yet, as far as my employer is considered i'm a cis male. this is an issue. being seen as female is very important to me as i was hoping to continue my transition while in france.

obviously at some stage i am going to have to discuss this with my employer. all i need to work out is when and how. i don't know whether to contact my employer now (via email most likely) and tell them about this, or to wait until i start work, go to my first day at work presenting male and see if i can get a chance to discuss it with them. i have never actually met anyone who works for the company in person as i was interviewed by phone and all other contact has happened through email, so i have no clue how they feel about trans people.

i'm pretty confused and it's very stressful as i was hoping that moving to france would be my moment to shine, but this is a major barrier. i'd appreciate any advice. ;-;

[Hiraeth]

Does the company have an HR department? (They would have been the ones you've already had to deal with to work out the logistics of the job offer.) Starting the conversation with them is usually a good bet, as that is part of their job. You can ask them whether or not there are any official policies for example regarding washroom use, dress code, using a chosen name in the company system, etc.