How India has condemned its transgenders to social exclusion
In a country fighting gender inequality, there is a huge section of people which has been pushed to social isolation because of our shared obsession of putting every human being into neat brackets tagged with gender markers. There are men and there are women. There are 'womanly' sissy men and 'manly' tomboyish women.
This world that obsesses over strict gender boundaries is ruthless towards those not considered 'gender normal'. And the 'gender abnormals' are condemned to a life of societal apathy where they are denied everything from jobs to families to their basic identity.
A study conducted on the human rights of 'transgenders' by the Kerala Development Society on behalf of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has given numbers to how far the rights of the trans people are being compromised in this country.
The study says only 2 per cent transgenders stay with their parents. About 92 per cent are denied the right to participate in any form of economic activity. Even the educated ones are denied jobs, leaving them with no option but to opt for either sex work or beg on the streets.
According to the 2011 Census, India had 4.8 lakh transgenders. They, however, do not figure on the agenda of any political party. The fact that only about 30,000 are registered with the Election Commission should answer why.
Women and Child Welfare Minister Maneka Gandhi recently demonstrated in Parliament just how seriously our politicians take the cause of the transgenders by 'mockingly' referring to them as 'the other ones'. Members of Parliament could be seen laughing as Gandhi went ahead to demonstrate how insensitive we are to the cause of the trans people.
Estimates suggest while there are 50 lakh to 60 lakh transgenders in the country, most keep it a secret to avoid discrimination.
The discrimination against trans people starts right from their childhood in families they are born into. Unable to come to terms with their 'unique identity', parents subject them to corporal punishments. "Most parents consider their status as physical and mental defects," the study says.
The study says around 50 to 60 per cent transgenders have never attended schools and faced discrimination. About 57 per cent are keen on getting sex-alignment surgery, but don't have the money for it. Eighteen per cent are physically abused, 62 per cent are verbally abused in school. The study finds that 99 per cent of transgenders have suffered social rejections on more than one occasion.
Most trans people work in the informal sector — 24 per cent find livelihood in "badhais" (occasions where they go to shower blessings), 5 per cent in sex trade, 10 per cent are beggars, 13 per cent are fruit and vegetable sellers and 5 per cent are engaged in miscellaneous works.
These are staggering numbers telling a story of how India has chosen to turn deaf and mute to a whole section of its people only because they do not fall into our gender binaries and because we have chosen to limit our worldviews with regards to sexual identities.
Our sensitivities are dead when it comes to empathising with the fact that no matter what gender group we fall into or whether we fall into any defined gender category or not, exclusion and abuse is denial of basic human rights.
While the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill was going to be tabled in the monsoon session of Parliament after the Cabinet passed the Bill with 27 changes, the government has been unable to bring laws to improve the lives of transgenders.
The Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government has flatly refused to address two major issues — decriminalising homosexuality under Section 377 that directly concerns transgenders and reservation for transgender community in educational institutions and government organisations.
Social Justice Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot, in an interview to The Economic Times, said, "The issue of decriminalising homosexuality is under the Supreme Court purview. It is being examined so we cannot take a call on this. Even the quantum of reservation in government jobs and educational institutions is frozen by the courts. So we cannot address the issues."
There is no legal support available for a transgender to enter a marriage or set up a family.
While many trans people face sexual abuse, there is nothing in the law books to protect them. Many transgenders have been insensitively asked how can they be raped?
In 2014 when the Supreme Court recognised transgenders as the third gender, it asked the government to treat them as socially and economically backward.
"The third gender people will be considered as Other Backward Class," the SC said. They will be given educational and employment reservation as OBCs, the SC had said.
A slew of directions were passed for the social welfare of the transgenders.
The NHRC report is proof none of it has been achieved.
India's traffic signals are spots where the country's marginalised beg before its insensitive lot. Most 'gender normal' Indians encounter trans people here begging in desperation. Some look at them with contempt, some with pity — inconsiderate to the fact that neither contempt, nor pity, helps them.
While government legislations are necessary things on the ground won't change unless we as a society overcome our deep-seated transphobia.