Voice For TRANSGENDERS (Mega Project)
By: Mariyam Muhammad Iqbal
Tags: Amal Academy, Amal Fellowship

Who is a TRANSGENDER????????

TRANS in Pakistan

There is a trans named Chahat said that she wishes to be a dog so that she could live with her mother. Her statement was so heart wrenching to me as I could not control my tears after her statement.

Hardships Faced By TRANS

I want to raise my voice for the rights of transgenders as they are considered as the marginalized part of our society. I believe it would be great if a voice can be raised for them from our side as this is our responsibility to help them as remove this discrimination from the society.

Problem Statement

The transgenders are the people who have not been given equal rights in Pakistan. The newly passed Transgender’s Act allows them a 2% quota in both public and private organizations. However, there are still hurdles in getting honorable jobs for transgender people. It is very hard for transgender people to work somewhere other than their stigmatized role of singing, dancing, and begging. This segment of society is uneducated and marginalized in every aspect of life. On the other side, there is a big issue of society acceptance of transgenders. The society is not ready to accept them as a third gender as there is only male and female sex according to the people. We do not see them working with others and live a normal life like the way others live because they are not considered as a normal human being. They are left to live outside of normal societies, as a result, they have to make their own colonies and live in a group. Moreover, they are discriminated everywhere, raped, and killed after birth.

Causes

Poverty, illiteracy, injustice, discrimination, and social exclusion are faced by transgenders is normal in their lives and the causes are:

The society does not accept them as a normal gender. When they are born, they get out of their homes and then they start begging, dancing and singing. They are mocked, made fun and bullied by people around them. They are not being provided equal facilities like a normal person. The bill has been passed but not being implemented properly. After the ‘Transgender Protection Act’, this segment of the population has gained immense support from the civil societies of Pakistan. However, the practical implications of those rules stated in the act are still far behind. It points out that sex is anatomical but gender is something to do with the emotions. It is intrinsic and the inner consciousness of a person, what the person himself/ herself identifies and associates with? Whether the soul aligns with the physical body?

Initiatives

As there are a lot of issues and problems faced by the trans. So, I came up with an idea to create an awareness among people to let them know that trans are normal human beings like us. They should not be discriminated at any cost, should be given equal rights in life as well as in employment. So for this purpose, I tried to contact the first transgender lawyer in Pakistan, Ms. Nisha Rao who worked hard with full determination and made her community and Pakistan proud by being a lawyer and social activist. She is currently running an NGO named ‘TransPride’ for the transgenders as well as for underserved people in our society. Alhamdulillah, by the grace of ALLAH, I got her number and contacted her. I talked to her and explained that I want to help the transgenders in terms of society acceptance and to make them an accepted third gender. She is really helpful and agreed upon a meet up and assured to help me in this regard.

I believe that my study and the project will definitely bring a positive change in the society and Pakistan would be a place where trans could live peacefully without any fear.