The other gender

There are no two opinions on the fact that the transgender community is provided with little to no opportunities in the country, despite the laws permit their mainstreaming. Their marginalisation puts them farther away from exercising their own agency and pushes them below the poverty line while being ostracised from communities even by health providers, owing to the country’s orthodox mindset and a severe lack of implementation of the laws provided. Another blow to their potential livelihood has come from being underreported in the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).

According to a report published on Dec 18^th, only 18 per cent of transgender people have been registered as the ‘third sex’ in the NADRA database. This means only 1,882 have been registered while the actual numbers — which might also be underreported — identified in the 2017 census results stood at 10,418. A staggering 81 per cent of members of the community have no identity documents specifying their sex.

It has been six years since the Supreme Court directed the authorities to issue NICs to the community by specifically mentioning their sex, but such a wide disparity only shows their lack of will to provide for their own citizens. Identity documents do not merely list citizens in a national database but also help ensure their access to special privileges categorised under gender specification, including employment. Though many non-governmental organisations and a few autonomous institutions, including NADRA itself has provided transgender people with jobs, the whopping 81 per cent gap will make it impossible for them to avail any such opportunity.

With the next general elections being held in less than a year, it is significant that the transgender community is registered and the glitches that NADRA officials report of them being already registered as ‘males’ should be rectified. They have the equal right to vote and become active citizens of the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2017.

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