Hijra

In south Asian countries including India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, the Hijra are people who were assigned male at birth and who have a feminine gender expression. This is a very ancient tradition of a nonbinary gender role (often called "third gender"). The Hijra in India alone may number as many as 2,000,000.

Hijra

A group of Hijra, circa 1865.

A Pakistani hijra at a protest between two hijra groups from Islamabad and Rawalpindi. 2008.

Legal Recognition

In some countries today, Hijra are legally recognized as a gender other than female or male.

• India, November 2009 Owing to the Hijra, India allows passports to use the gender marker "T", meaning transgender or third gender, as well as "E" (eunuch). However, this distinction doesn't grant them all civil rights (for example, in order to vote, one needs to identify as either male or female).
• Pakistan, December 2009
• Bangladesh, November 2013 In 2011, Bangladesh started to allow passports to show a gender called "other", owing to the Hijra.

Notable hijras

Please expand this section.

In fiction

• River of the Gods and Cyberabad Days by Ian McDonald. A novel set in futuristic India in year 2050, with interesting subplots about hijra.

See also

• Gender-variant identities worldwide
• Gallae
• Eunuch
• Two-Spirit
• Glossary of Hindi gender and sex terminology
• Recognition