The illusion of inclusion: Empty policies and promises for Bangladesh’s hijra community

July 5, 2024

DHAKA – In 2013, Bangladesh granted the hijra community “third gender” status, which constitutionally embedded their rights and safety, and started the process of opening economic opportunities to them. However, other than an official gender recognition, it did little to change the hijra community’s historically tragic and exploited dire reality.

The acknowledgement came severely underfunded, without any policy changes, and had no impact on the social and cultural transformation needed to incorporate the historically marginalised hijra community into Bangladeshi society. In Bangla, hijras are referred to as jouno o lingo protibondhi, meaning “a person with sexual and gender disabilities,” and this term has further ostracised the community based on their perceived sexual, physical, and gender shortcomings. Although Bangladesh has made legal changes on paper that are considered as markers of progress in a Western context, little has been done to improve the lives of the hijra community from a social and economic perspective.

The hijra community is the oldest transgender group in the world, and their fight for equality precedes the formation and subsequent split of the South Asian countries they inhabit. But this was not always the case. Some hijra communities were and are considered to be members of a holy caste of people, whose presumed mythical powers and physical traits led to their reverence and indispensability within the Mughal Empire.

However, the British colonial powers’ quest to civilise Indian society, and their ideas of morality and traditional gender norms were in direct conflict with the existence of the hijra community. They viewed this group with disgust and frustration due to their inability