Social exclusion and livelihood issues of transgenders in Kerala
- South Asian Journal of Socio-Political Studies
- 23(2), Jan-Jun, 2023: p.57-60
Trans-genders are one of the most marginalized and most discriminated people in the society. The term ‘transgender’ is an umbrella term consists of different meanings. Transgenders are the people who are born with male or female anatomies but they feel different from their body structure (Rafeek, 2006). According to Kerala Transgender policy,1 a Transgender person is someone whose gender does not match with the gender assigned to that person at birth and includes Transmen and Transwomen (whether or not they have undergone sex reassignment surgery or hormone therapy or laser therapy etc.), gender queers and number of other socio-cultural identities. Transgender people experienced an extreme case of social exclusion and finally this exclusion leads to more vulnerable standard of living, limited access to education and employment and limited opportunities for social and economic advancement. All kind of social exclusion undermines self esteem and sense of social responsibility. Exclusion from different field of life is the main cause of the lack of better livelihood option. A livelihood comprises the capabilities assets and activities required for strengthening means of living (Robert chambers and Conway). Livelihood vulnerability directly increases risk and vulnerability to HIV. National HIV prevalence is .31% where as HIV prevalence among Transgender community is limited to be 8.2%. Limited vulnerability options adversely affect their socio economic well being that in turn lead to poor access to education, housing and food insecurity. Census 2011 reveals that only 46% of the Transgender population, as compared to 76% of general population, as literate. All of these increase the vulnerability to poverty.- Reproduced