Thiruvananthapuram: After the declaration of the state’s TG policy in 2015 and its many measures, one would be tempted to say that Kerala has come a long way in creating an egalitarian society for all gender identities. However Sreemayi, crowned ‘Malayali Manka’ on Thursday night at Tourism Department’s Transfest, says that there was a lot more that the government ought to do. “Though there are TG welfare projects, one cannot say that the government has, on its own, given these. It is of course a positive sign, that the government is responding to the demands of the TG community,” she says.
She is a living example of a qualified TG person who has had to struggle for years before earning a good job. After post-graduation (MSc in Demography), she had to swing from one short project to another. Finally, in April 2017, she was appointed Archiving Assistant at CDS on a contract basis. “Most TG persons have been ousted by families and may have dropped out of schools and colleges. The government should make it comfortable for a transgender child to continue education, and open more employment avenues for older TG people,” she says. She argues that the government should focus on employment avenues to TG persons, especially as the government would benefit from it.
“TGs are healthy and would be a productive asset. Moreover many of us live as single units with great purchasing power. Many of the TGs spend a lot. Employed TG persons would benefit an emerging economy like ours,” she says. “People ask me, ‘didn’t the government offer jobs to transgender persons in Kochi metro?’ Only 23 transgender persons were taken on board, of which many have already resigned as the income was not adequate. Moreover the job was no favour and was given on the basis of their educational qualification. This got the government much acclaim too,” she says. There are more than 25,000 transgender persons in the state according to a survey conducted in 2015. Sreemayi said that the government should offer jobs to at least 100 TGs in the state, the same way medal winners of national meets were appointed directly.
