Hijra
 Meaning As described by its author, pink and blue are for those who identify with binary genders as trans people, while the white is for those who are nonbinary, the red represents the divinity they were blessed with by Rama. |
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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.[1]
Legal Recognition
In some countries today, Hijra are legally recognized as a gender other than female or male.
- India, November 2009 [2] Owing to the Hijra, India allows passports to use the gender marker "T", meaning transgender or third gender,[3] as well as "E" (eunuch).[4] 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 [5]
- Bangladesh, November 2013 [6] In 2011, Bangladesh started to allow passports to show a gender called "other", owing to the Hijra.[7][8]
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
References
- ↑ Reddy, Gayatri, With Respect to Sex: Negotiating Hijra Identity in South India, 310 pp., University of Chicago Press, 2005 ISBN 0-226-70755-5 (see p. 8)
- ↑ "India's third gender gets own identity in voter rolls", Harmeet Shah Singh, CNN.com, Nov. 2009
- ↑ Mitch Kellaway. "Trans Indian's Predicament at Border Shows the U.S. Lags Behind." May 9, 2015. Advocate. http://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2015/05/09/trans-indian-womans-predicament-border-shows-us-lags-behind
- ↑ Tristin Hopper, "Genderless passports ‘under review’ in Canada." May 8, 2012. National Post. http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/genderless-passports-under-review-in-canada
- ↑ "Pakistan Recognizes Third Gender", Ria Misra, Politics Daily, Dec. 2009
- ↑ "Hijras now a separate gender", Mohosinul Karim, Dhaka Tribune, Nov. 2013
- ↑ Macarow, Aron (9 February 2015). "These Eleven Countries are Way Ahead of the US on Trans Issues". ATTN:. Retrieved 1 October 2020.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
- ↑ Tristin Hopper, "Genderless passports ‘under review’ in Canada." May 8, 2012. National Post. http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/genderless-passports-under-review-in-canada
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