CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR TRANSGENDER

COMMUNITY IN HAZARA DIVISION

STUDENT NAME: SHOUKAT NAWAZ

STUDENT R. No. 50152-220002
STUDY LEVEL: MPHIL
DEPARTMENT: Department of Sociology

SUPERVISOR: Dr. KHALIL UR REHMAN

DATE OF SUBMISSION: 23-01-2023

 CONTENTS
SUMMARY 2

1. INTRODUCTION 4

2. BACKGROUND AND GAP ANALYSIS/PROBLEM STATEMENT 9

2.1 Research Question/Hypothesis 9

3. OBJECTIVES 9

4. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS 10

5. THE PROPOSED MODEL/FLOW CHART DIAGRAM 11

6. EXPECTED OUTCOMES 14

7. REFERENCES 16

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SUMMARY

Transgender persons are one such group of people who have been marginalized,
abused, disdained and callously neglected community in almost every known society. All those
individuals who are not coming in the two categories of male and female are known as
transgender individuals. They are facing a number of hurdles than the common person faced.
The society discriminate them and shows violent behaviour towards them. To highlight the
challenges faced by them and opportunities available for the transgender in the Hazara division
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan and problems faced by transgender in their community
were the main objectives of the study. This study based on grounded theories analysis of
interviews with transgender-identified people from different regions of the Hazara division,
Pakistan. Both primary as well as secondary sources of data were utilized in the present study.
The purpose of this study is to dig out the challenges faced by transgender and their living
patterns in the Hazara division. Stigmatization, social exclusion and consequent banishment
from the society makes transgender's life even tougher; isolating, pushing and forcing them
into inappropriate conducts/habits like selling sex. Qualitative research design was adopted
which involved the semi structured in depth interviews. The results indicate a low level of
quality of life of the transgender individuals in the current life situation and showed that the
reasons behind their marginalized status are lack of governmental support, lack of proper
Education, Lack of job opportunities and absence of Knowledge among the common people
towards the transgenders. The aim of this proposal is to highlight the issues of transgenders
living in Hazara due to ambiguous gender identity.

INTRODUCTION

The transgender people have gender identity and the gender expression that differs
from theirsex assigned at the birth. Some transgender people who desire medical assistance to
the transition from one sex to another identify as transsexual. The transgender is deliberated as
the gender queer, intersex, cross dressers transsexual individuals. Different names are given
to the transgender in Pakistan as Murat, Hijra, Khawaja Sara and Khusra. From the early
childhood, by the society, they are treated and measured the derogative (Stryker, 2013).They
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face discernment where they live in the schools, at family level closing the doors of ethical
employment for them by vulgar and discernment comments by school mates and inhabitants
lead them to fly from educational institution. These people are forced to accept such
resources of earning which in no case are possible in the Islam and are also not distinguished
by the society.

According to the law of Pakistan which ruled by the supreme court of Pakistan
in 2013, there is no injustices and this non-confirmed the gender identity person have equal
rights. The federal and provincial governments directed by court to provide third gender
rights in all the fields of life along with inheritance, education, and employment. In different
during this period, a department during this period, several transgenders got the chance to
work. The socio-economic information is another extension in this achievement. Further
study placed on the feedback of third gender views moreover perception into many aspects of
third gender community. It is discussed that why third gender people exist in many theories,
yet no systematic agreement is present there. Different types of philosophies are sited on
medical grounds, cultural, biological, and psychological. How people identify themselves in
different cultural, discussed in cultural theory, many cultures entitle our behavior depends
upon their gender identity at birth time. It based on sex expressed in terms of chromosomes
defined by Biologists. They are called intersex when chromosomes are not in normal order,
may called transgender or may not (Davis-Kean, 2005). Lack of data of transgender
population is one of the difficulties in addressing the problems of eunuchs. Number of
transgenders is between ¼ and 1 % of the total population is estimated in the USA.

Pakistan is the second largest Islamic state in the world. Islam has given equal rights to
everyone. Through electronic and print media, we found that being an Islamic state; still
transgender are neglected by the government and the local society. There is many NGO’s
working for human rights, but also they have ignored the transgender. We found, that in
Pakistan the transgender are ignored in every walk of life including, education, government
jobs, health care and even security for their life. In 2013, Supreme Court of Pakistan has given
rights to transgender which still are not implemented in the community. Not only the society,
but their families are not accepting them as their family members. The objectives of this review
article were to review and highlight various aspects of issues faced by the transgender
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community of Pakistan. Whenever we study about transgender, we have come to know that
some people are not actually transgender by birth, but they change themselves according to
their own choice by medical treatment like surgery.

Challenges

While the visibility of transgender individuals is increasing, they still face so many
challenges in order to adjust themselves in gender dichotomies. Some of the issues facedby
transgender individuals are: stigmatization anddiscrimination causing them to be rejected by
their families; they are pressurized to set their identity in gender binaries,to act as either man
or woman and failing to do so leads toseparation from their families and sending them
totransgender community where they are brought up by Guru. Their exclusion from families
makes them isolated andunnerving for others which lead the prejudice towards them.
In Pakistan, transgender live on the fringes of society,socially excluded and being vulnerable.
Illiteracy, poverty,injustice, lack of opportunities, social and cultural boycott,power imbalances
in relationship, and obstinate attitude ofreligious leaders are some of the reasons for social
exclusionof this community. Other than that, inability to reproduceand coping with their sexual
orientation further adds to their disdain. They encounter negligence, humiliation
anddiscrimination everyday on the basis of their physical, socialand even cultural
characteristics. In some cultures they arenot allowed to be part of religious practices, while in
othercultures, they are believed to be blessed with divine power.
With this, they also fail to find a secure place to study,which leads to diminished
education. Trans-activists think that 98-99% of trans-community in Pakistan is illiterate while
UNAIDs 2014 report affirms that 42% of thetransgender sex workers surveyed were
uneducated. There are no quota system in educational institutions for them in Pakistan. Even if
some of them try to get education, they face a lot ofproblems in terms of their enrollment,
selection of groups and answering to unknown questions of others around. Since, social hatred
and discrimination keeps them awayfrom educational institutions, they are compelled to
adoptsuch means livelihood like prostitution, singing, dancing atweddings or childbirth, and
begging for pennies, workwhich is condemned by our mainstream society. They are not hired
for household work, for day care services or for any other job for which they can learn the skills

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easily andthus, are constrained to live in such setups where adoptingsuch means become an
easy option.
These experiences of severe marginalization by families and community lead to
immense health risks for transgender, including increased risk for sexually transmitted disease
like HIV infection, mental health disparities, and drug abuse.In Pakistan, 44.2% transgender sex
workers and 31% nonsex workers transgender have reported using alcohol/drugs. Moreover,
approximately 71% of transgender sex workerswho use injectable drugs have sexual
relationships withother drug users and up to 33.7% of them did not use acondom in the last
coitus with their clients. A study revealed that, out of 409 participants, 84% had sold sex, 94%
couldidentify a condom, but 42% reported never needing one, 58% had sexually transmitted
infections (STIs) and 38% had multiple infections.
In addition to that trans-people are also the target of abuseand brutality not only by
their families but also at schools,workplace as well As their gurus. In 2016, 46 murders and 300
attacks had been documented across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Likewise, the occurrence of sexual
abuse inchildhood among transgender is about 82%. More than halfof them reported being
beaten, choked or threatened with a knife or other weapon, while 56% of them reported being
tricked/ laid into having sex without consent. While physicalwellbeing of transgender remains
at stake, psychologicalhealth is also adversely affected owing to the fact thatphysical and
psychological abuse by people becomes ascourge for them.While these challenges horrify
society and portray howdifficult their lives are, we also have some great examples ofpeople,
who have broken the socially constructed barrier,and are succeeding in life while keeping their
identities inexistence, like first ever Pakistani transgender modelfollowed by transgender
working as news caster, hair stylists, fashion designers, interior decorators and transactivists
working for the growth of their community. Theyhave proved that being a transgender is not a
disability; rather it is their identity.

Opportunities
Violence, poverty, human rights violations, inequality, lackof educational opportunities,
and insufficient legal andmedical services remain the significant issues faced bytransgender
community today, but efforts are being made inthis regard. In 2009, Pakistan Supreme Court
for the firsttime gave transgender a status of third sex in CNIC andordered reservation of 2%
employment quota. Moreover, in 2012 the court recognized their rights of employment and
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inheritance after death of parents. Besides this, the LahoreHigh Court for the first time issued
the order to includetransgender community in 2017 population census. Population of
transgender people as per the census 2017 is as under reported as exhibited in the table below.

Population of Transgender Persons:

Admin Population - 2017
Unit Pakistan KPK FATA Punjab Sind Balochistan Islamabad
Rural 9772 1091 304 5617 2147 489 124
Urban 12002 908 22 6818 3807 291 156
Total 21774 1999 326 12435 5954 780 280

Transgender Protection of Rights policy has been publishedby Punjab Social Protection
Authority on May 24, 2018, ActNo. III, which recognizes the identity of transgender person,
prohibits discrimination and harassment against them, andpromises to provide equal status,
medical facilities, psychological care, counselling, education, and employment opportunities to
this community (Acts, Ordinances,President's Orders and Regulations, Act No. XIII, 2018).
With that, Transgender Welfare Policy has also beenpublished by PSPA, which aimed to identify
the factor that result in social vulnerabilities of transgender and futureimplications for the
welfare of transgender population.Other than this, there are many NGOs working to empower
transgender community like Wajood, a community based transgender community organization
in Pakistanwhich launched the Pakistan Transgender EmpowermentAssociation: voice for social
change and empowerment, andGender Interactive Alliance. They aim to empower and raisea
voice for transgender community rights and issues atnational level. Other examples are of
Exploring FutureFoundation’s project “The Gender Guardian” which is
Pakistan’s first all-transgender school and which providesboth formal education and vocational
training. With this, Blue Veins Khyber Pakhtunkhwa based advocacy group isgiving educational
scholarships to transgender community.These kinds of initiatives are making way for
socioeconomic inclusion of these individuals.

In the sector of healthcare efforts for reducing healthcaredisparities faced by

transgender community can be seen atprovincial level. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sehat Insaf
Cards are issued to transgender individuals to ensure healthfor them. This initiative will ensure
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free-of-cost coveragefor HIV/AIDS and cancer tests and treatment and it will also offer medical
coverage of Rs 400,000 per family for healthemergencies. Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences
at Islamabad, under the Transgender Protection of Rights Act2018, allocated a separate ward
for transgender individualwhere they would be treated for free.

Background and GAP Analysis / Problem Statement

There are a number of grass root level issues that transgender people and other
marginalized communities face on a daily basis in Pakistan. These include lack of access to
quality education, employment, healthcare, and housing. This study not only highlights the
issues but will also talk about the opportunities which can change the life of these people. This
research looks at five dimensions of transgender, psychological, social, political, religious, and
their individual adjustment.

Research Question/Hypothesis

Following are the hypothesis of this study

i. To find out the Physical challenges that the transgender faced in the society
ii. To find out the Psychological challenges that the transgender faced in the society
iii. To find out the Societal challenges that the transgender faced in the society..

OBJECTIVES
Violence, poverty, human rights violations, socioeconomic inequality, lack of education,
insufficient legal services, and deficiencies in law enforcement institutionsare some of the
significant barriers faced by the transgender community in every day. Keeping in view the
significance of this study, the following objectives were followed:

i. To find out the challengesthat the transgender faced in the society

ii. To investigate about their problems in everyday life.
iii. Spread awareness and raise a voice for transgender community rights and issues at
national level

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iv. To suggest research-based recommendation for improving their life standardand
making them useful segment of the society

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Research Design
This study is qualitative and anexplanatory research design has been used. In this study,
an explanatory research design is usedbecause the focus of the present study is to explain the
challenges faced by this discriminated community and attitude ofsociety towards them.

Sample
The present study was conducted among the 500 Transgender community residing in
Haripur, Abbottabad & Mansehra, districts of Hazara division. These cities were selected
because transgenders are living here in large number. Respondents were interviewed through
snow-ball sampling technique.

Instruments
Data was collectedthrough unstructured and semi-structured interviews and participant
observation methods.In-depth semi structuredinterviews were conducted with the transgender
individuals who are residing in different locations of Hazara Division to know their views and
experience about theirissues and their opportunities.

Data Collection
Data were collected through Semi-structured interview which contains open-ended
questions and some probing questions. An audio recorder was used for recording the
interviews and all interviews were fully transcribed. The interview schedule was structured into
the following three sections;

• Participant’s demographics
• Their psychological problems

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• Causes of psychological problems

Procedure
The in-depth interview was conducted directly with the participants. A total of 13
participants were interviewed but six interviews were excluded due to incomplete information.
The researcher ensured informed consent from all participants. All participants signed a
consent form in which stated that they were willing to participate in the interview. In consent
form the researcher ensuring participants about the confidentiality throughout the process.
Interview guide wasarranged for conducting in depth interviews. Several questions were asked
by the researcherto probe the fact under various themes. The researcher recorded the answer
in written formbecause the interview was conducted in a very conservative rural background
and topic wassensitive. In this condition it was better to make notes rather than to record the
answers. Allthe interview ranges from 25 – 30 minutes.
The detailed demographic information was collected in order to understand the
demographic characteristics of the participants. The interviews were recorded via audio tape
recorder by the permission of participants. Non-verbal responses were noted on the
demographic sheet and semi-structured interview sheet.

EXPECTED OUTCOME
Current work which is mainly limited to three districts of Hazara; Haripur, Abbottabad
and Mansehra denotes the bitter reality of these deprived beings. Their socialand economic
issues are interrelated mainlycausing their alienation in the society whichis already reluctant to
adopt them as an equalcitizen. The Supreme Court of Pakistan alsogave judgment to protect
the rights of thesepeoples, however, typical mind of thePakistani society is not ready to give
themtheir due rights including right to life andexistence. Instead of looking those as ahuman
being they are taken as a source ofentertainment

REFERENCES
1. (2022) The story of transgender community in Hazara Division, AUST

2. Ghamdi, J. (2016, December 5). 11th Hour. (W. Badami, Interviewer)

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3. (2019), Transgender community in Pakistan: A look into challenges and opportunities,
Agha Khan University.

4. Annual Report, United Nations in Pakistan, 2020,

https://pakistan.un.org/sites/default/files/2021-04/UN_ResultsReport_2020_Pakistan.pdf

5. Aurat Foundation,
https://af.org.pk/gep/images/GEP%20Gender%20Studies/Transgender%20Community%20in
%20Pakistan.pdf

6. National Assembly Act, 2018,

https://na.gov.pk/uploads/documents/1526547582_234.pdf

7. http://fra.europa.eu, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in June

2008

8. Exploring the trans-gender’s issues in Pakistani print media, The Sindh University Journal
of Education Vol. 50-I, June 2021 PP No. 76-101

9. Singh S, Ambrosio M, Semini I, et al. (2014) “Revitalizing the HIV Response in Pakistan: A
Systematic Review and Policy Implications” International Journal of Drug Policy; 25: 26–33.

10. (2021) “Challenges and living patterns of transgender: qualitative evidences from
Faisalabad”

11. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/pakistans-trans-community-is-still-living-
with-the-violence-of-empire/

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