Monthly round-up of gender news
Ahead of the Transgender Day of Visibility, we discuss the plights and triumphs faced by transgender people from around the globe
Earlier this month, Life went backstage to visit some of the transgender beauty queens competing for the title of Miss International Queen 2018 at Tiffany’s Show Theatre in Pattaya. During our conversation, the ladies shared their perspective regarding transgender rights in their own country. And one of the topics that resonates worldwide is employment, or rather the lack of opportunity for transgender people to get hired due to discrimination and prejudice based on their gender on a professional level.
“We’re not equal in the view of straight people,” said Brazilian beauty Izabele Coimbra via an interpreter. She works for a modelling agency in Brazil. “I’ve been rejected from many casting jobs when people realised that I’m a transgender woman. They believe that hiring me would ruin the organisation’s image.”
“For many years, I was really sad about it. I felt as if I was born in the wrong place,” she added.
This same problem also exists in the Philippines, according to Filipina beauty queen Carla Madrigal who noted that she was surprised to see, in Thailand, that many transgender women are able to work in restaurants, dressing openly in women’s clothes. This level of freedom isn’t really available in her own country.
“We’re still struggling in the Philippines,” said Madrigal. “Philippines is a Christian country, and people believe that there are only men and women.”
She said that, right now, the country is pushing to pass what she termed a Sogie (short for Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression) Bill that would protect the right of transgender people.
“If we can pass that, we’ll have the equality that we want, especially in the employment system in the Philippines,” Madrigal said. Equal opportunity, for her,
would mean that every individual receives equal chances to make the most out of their lives. In order to attain that, she views that education can play a crucial role at making people understand what gender diversity and transgenderism are about in order to eradicate misconception and prejudice in the country.
Looking over to one of the more progressive countries such as Australia, the representing queen said that there is always more room to grow in terms of acceptance towards transgender people, even in a progressive country.
On top of marriage equality, Australia also offers employment rights for transgender citizens.
“We do have rights to protect us,” said Australian model Jacqueline, the show’s first runner-up. “For one thing, you can’t be fired for being transgender.” Jacqueline is working within the hospitality and fashion industry in her country, and believes that the chance for people to get a job has more to do with the level of confidence they have, rather than their gender identity.
“No matter who you are, where you’re from, or how you’re born, if you have the confidence, you should try and you’ll succeed at finding a job,” she said. “It’s achievable to have full-time work as a transgender woman. It’s definitely possible and I’m a living proof of that.”
A progress she’d want to see further in her own country, and eventually the world, is that no one would ever faze at the word “transgender”, that the idea of transgenderism would be completely normal to everyone.
“For me, that would be the complete utopia of what the world could be,” Jacqueline said.