We Cannot Achieve Gender Equality Without Supporting Trans Health
This year is turning out to be tumultuous one for LGBTQI rights advocates. Taiwan struck down the ban on same-sex marriage. Chechnya’s brutal persecution of gay men resulted in activists reaching across borders for support. In Uganda, the government banned gay pride events. Events like these have influenced international dialogue around sexism, discrimination, and human rights. But one question remains unanswered: are we neglecting issues faced by the trans community?
Maybe so.
Research has shown that the suicide rate among transgender people is higher globally than the general population. In India, this rate is between 31 percent to 50 percent, a troubling statistic. In the state of Karnataka alone, 40–50 transgender people commit suicide every year. Yet, the dialogue around trans issues has remained stagnant, even implausible.
Olga Aaron, a trans activist and social entrepreneur at BRAVOH (Bringing Adequate Values of Humanity), a non-profit in Chennai, India, says that after nearly two decades, she has shifted focus to family inclusion to bridge the widening gap in public knowledge about the issues that ail the trans community. It’s time, Aaron says, that the dialogue about gender equality recognizes that issues faced by the trans community aren’t solely health-related. She says that it’s important to assess the experiences of transgender people holistically.
Through BRAVOH, Aaron is working on an approach that tackles the root of the problem: the education of gender non-conforming children. This, she says, will go a long way in helping trans communities build stronger support systems and nurture relationships that can influence their lives positively.
“When it comes to trans issues, it starts at early adolescence.” she says. “Family inclusion is very essential because even after eighteen or nineteen years, when I look back, not a single transwoman is able to live with her family. Or they have forced themselves to accommodate themselves within the social structure [of a family].”
The problems that affect children in their youth manifest in their adulthood.
“For gender non-conforming kids, the pressure to conform starts young; the environment they encounter at home, at school, and their daily interactions with the general public scrutinize children’s behavior.” Aaron says. This is the common experience of trans children, she argues, who grow up with these issues affecting them as adults.
As global leaders come together in New York to discuss Global Goal Five, social entrepreneurs like Aaron remind us that there is an urgency to address the gaps at the intersection of health and gender. While social enterprises like the Humsafar Trust, Sahodari foundation, Sangama and Samara continue to do important crisis intervention work with LGBTQI communities, the issues faced by transgender people must be seen as an integral part of the global gender equality movement.
(Meera Vijayann reports on gender and global development.)
