Hijra

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    Revision as of 16:46, 4 December 2020 by imported>TXJ (Cleaned up refs)
    Hijra
    A group of Hijra, circa 1865.
    A Pakistani hijra at a protest between two hijra groups from Islamabad and Rawalpindi. 2008.

    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][4]

    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

    References

    1. 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)
    2. Harmeet Shah Singh (12 November 2009). "India's third gender gets own identity in voter rolls". CNN. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
    3. Kellaway, Mitch (9 May 2015). "Trans Indian's Predicament at Border Shows the U.S. Lags Behind". The Advocate. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
    4. 4.0 4.1 Hopper, Tristin (9 May 2012). "Genderless passports 'under review' in Canada". National Post. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
    5. Misra, Ria (25 December 2009). "Pakistan Recognizes Third Gender". Politics Daily. Archived from the original on 27 February 2010.
    6. Karim, Mohosinul (11 November 2013). "Hijras now a separate gender". Dhaka Tribune. Archived from the original on 11 November 2013.
    7. 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)