Bangladesh’s hijra community has voiced outrage after nearly all those appointed to government jobs set aside for transgenders were disqualified after a medical test deemed them fully male.
The government’s social welfare department had planned to hire 14 transgenders — known as hijras in the subcontinent — in low-level positions in the country’s first quota scheme, designed to benefit the much stigmatised and discriminated community.
But the programme is now in tatters after 12 of those who were selected for the jobs were in fact classified as “full-grown males”, department’s director Parveen Mehtab said.
“As a result, we have to halt the appointment of the 12. These jobs are meant for the hijras. And unless we are sure that they are hijras, we can’t give them the jobs,” Mehtab said.
The transgender community, which has spent years lobbying for job quotas, reacted sharply, saying all 12 were hijras and the medical tests were “an insult” to the whole community.
“We’ve testified that all 12 are hijras. They may have male genitalia, but they behave like woman,” Joya Sikder, head of a hijra group called Somporker Noya Setu, said.
