Struggling for Gender Equity: A Case Study of Transgender Women related to their

Identity Formation and Discrimination in India

Bandana Meher
Doctoral Scholar, Social Work
Sambalpur University
Odisha, India
Email: bandanameher@suniv.ac.in

Introduction
Among the diversified differences, one that stands out very deeply in society is the difference
based on gender. Connell (2009) elucidated in her book that whenever there is a discussion on
gender differences, the perspective is usually binary, which means we visualise the gender
difference in terms of men and women. Wagaman (2015) emphasised the large LGBTQA
community, which is an oversight in terms of gender-based identification and violence.
Transgender people are one of the LGBTQA communities that have faced significant
discrimination. According to the American Psychological Association (2015), transgender
people are people who struggle with the gender identity they were given at birth and the social
identity they developed as they grew up. They transitioned between the binary gender identities
accepted by society. Challenging the norms they received during birth, transgender people
accepted the gender identity they felt psychologically and gradually expressed their social
identity through behaviour, clothing, hairstyles, and voice or body characteristics.
Transgender people have a long history in India, both in social and cultural contexts (Michelraj,
2015; Kalra, 2012). Usually, they were identified as ‘Hijra’, ‘Aravanis’, and ‘Kothis’ in various
parts of India. They usually stay with their community, separated from mainstream society.
Transgender people have a significant role in Indian culture from a ceremonial perspective. They
were usually invited to birth celebrations, marriage ceremonies, and other similar events to bless
the baby or newlyweds.
Trans women in urban India are no longer accepting of themselves in the traditional role of
"Hijra" and are more comfortable coming out as transgender people. However, whether the
situation is similar in semi-urban and rural areas remains to be seen. In semi-urban and rural
India, where cultural orthodoxy still prevails in societal perception, the identity of transgender
people is stigmatised based on the prejudiced perception people have of them. Jena (2019),
Pattnaik, and Mohanty (2014) presented the situation of transgender people in the context of
Odisha. Just like the situation in the rest of India, transgender people in Odisha suffer similar
discrimination in terms of social, economic, and health sectors. The government of Odisha has
launched a ‘Sweekruti’ scheme for the upliftment of the transgender community, especially for
their equality and justice, but the outreach of the scheme needs to be measured.

According to Jaddidi and Sharma (2021), laws exist to protect the transgender community, and a
few state governments have started a few welfare programmes to help them. However, these
programmes were unable to achieve their objectives due to people's sexual rigidity. Despite the
decriminalisation of Article 377 and the Supreme Court's recognition of "third gender" as a
citizen identity for the LGBTQAI community through the NALSA decision, a shift in societal
mindset is unlikely.
Methodology
The current study is carried out among 45 transgender women of Sambalpur City, Western
Odisha, focusing on their identity formation and its impact on social, economic, and cultural
fronts. This empirical study tries to explore the efficiency and awareness of the welfare program
the Central and State Governments are currently running for transgender women.
The sample respondents were located through purposive and snowball sampling methods in the
peripheral region of Sambalpur Municipal Corporation, Odisha, India. As transgender women
prefer to stay among their community members and keep minimal contact with the general
public due to stigmatisation, the researcher adopted the snowball sampling method to contact the
respondents. We first reached out to them and shared our purpose of contact. Among them, a
respondent named "Sweety" was able to connect with us and agreed to collaborate on the study.
After a few rounds of communication, she helped further introduce us to the community. With
the reference from Sweety, we could reach out to further respondents, and each of them could
help us find more transgender women in the community. Following the above process, the
researcher was able to reach out to 45 sample respondents. The researchers conducted many
rounds of qualitative interviews with the 45 transgender women participants with the help of
semi-structured interview schedules during the months of April–May 2022. These women were
mostly found in the city slums, either engaged in begging or running prostitution. The culture of
the geographical province chosen for the study is semi-urban, indicating cultural backwardness
in comparison to India's metro and urban areas.
The current study focuses on three areas: the formation of these trans-women's identities, their
socioeconomic and cultural lives, and the effectiveness of the local government's welfare
programme implementation. The in-depth questions for these participants revolved around the
above-mentioned objectives of the research. For a proper understanding of their experiences, the
narratives of the sample were collected through voice recording.

Findings
The cascade of events that transwomen's gender identity sets off can help us understand their
entire situation. Their family discriminated against and excluded them because they did not fit
society's binary gender standard. That led to running away from home to avoid harassment,
which also led to dropping out of school, again because of harassment and non-acceptance.
Because transwomen cannot complete their education, they are limited to a few livelihood
options like begging, prostitution, or party-dancer out of which prostitution is the least
acceptable in the eyes of society. As mentioned earlier, among the research participants, 39 are
currently engaged in such livelihoods. This led to further discrimination, and as a consequence of
their involvement in a profession like prostitution or sex work, they face symbolic degradation.
Working as a prostitute for money is viewed as a dishonourable act by society, and their
association with such a profession has resulted in a negative portrayal of transgender women.
Adding to that, mainstream society tagged them with various forms of verbal violence by
labelling and calling them out as ‘maichia’, ‘gandiya’, ‘chakka’, and creating an identity that
they may or may not have acknowledged. This, in general, fosters transwomen's sense of self and
others.
“When I was in school, my classmates were constantly bullying me for
my appearance and my choices. Even if I complained to my teacher, they
were also nonresponsive. It was a constant struggle to go to school
every day. So, when I left my place, I dropped out of school.”

“Though I am still in contact with my family, I know they were never

In terms of facing violence, in a recent event, a transgender woman was brutally murdered near
the Sambalpur city area, though the initial police report portrayed it as murder after the burglary,
and the transgender community is sceptical that this was a hate crime against them. The
community has serious concerns related to this, as their safety is in question.
“Incidents like this shake us to our core. We fear moving around because
people have a sense of stigmatising our job and our identity. This
resulted in a sense of hatred towards us. They feel that because of our
gender identity, we corrupt other people, and it is kind of okay to show
violence against us.”

While seeking health services, transwomen are hesitant to seek health-care services because they
face discrimination. As a consequence of their choice of occupation, transwomen need to have
regular health checkups. But the hesitancy that developed due to discrimination created a barrier.
Out of 45 respondents, 43 transwomen said ‘yes’ to feeling uncertain about going to the hospital
each time they needed it.
“The staff present at the hospitals have weird eyes on us as if we are
some kind of alien. Sometimes, they are hesitant to touch us for
treatment. Also, it seems like they feel we are suffering because of the
way we are born.”

The structural discrimination and stigma attached to the transgender community are caused by
the behaviour they receive from different parts of society. Discrimination, harassment, and a lack
of access to social institutions all have an impact on transwomen's mental health. This added to
the burden of their struggle, along with their different gender identities. Along with that,
transwomen specific to the Sambalpur region have a special place during the festival of Sital
Sasthi1, where their presence in public places is normalised for a particular period. They have
been called to events with respect and dignity.
“We are desirable during the festivals of Sital Sasthi, birth ceremonies,
and marriages, but apart from that, whenever people found us in public
places in Sambalpur apart from such events, they reacted to us with an
expression of disgrace. As if our presence pollutes the environment.”

In terms of support from the government, all 45 participants have their Addhar cards, and 29 of
them avail themselves of the food security programme. But, apart from that, they are neither
aware of any special programmes, such as “Sweekruti”, for them, nor are they currently part of
them.

Conclusion
Fundamentalist thought is still prevalent in rural India, where it accounts for 70% of the
population, and as a result, society has become less accepting of transgender women. They faced
multiple forms of discrimination, forcing them to make difficult decisions such as social
exclusion in the rural community or fleeing or entering the sex work profession. As sexuality
can be understood as fluid and should be a personal choice, society always goes with the rigidity
of the sexual binary. Despite their relevance to Ardhanareswar's terrified nature, society forced
them to choose between femininity and masculinity, completely rejecting the existence of a third
gender. As a result, discrimination against the community began, which resulted in othering.
Moreover, this mindset is non-contributory to the inclusion of transgender people and fuels their
social exclusion.

Until the mental perception of the general public changes, the situation of identity formation for
transwomen remains in the loop of self and others. Society will constantly create its identity
based on the prejudices it has. To achieve community recognition, not only government policies
but also people's mindsets must be altered.

1
Sital Sasthi is a festival to celebrate the holy union of Shiv and Parvati in the western part of Odisha.
Transgender people are celebrated for their participation in festivals as followers of Shiva's half-man,
half-woman avatar.