The integration of transgenders in the workforce is still a challenge. What should be done to create an enabling environment for the greater integration of transgenders in to the mainstream?
Refer – The Hindu
IAS Parliament 7 years
KEY POINTS
· For every headline celebrating a transgender person’s recruitment in a mainstream profession, there is a contentious history.
· For instance, take the case of Prithika Yashini, the first transwoman Sub-Inspector of Police in India.
· It took an order from the Madras High Court for the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board to appoint her.
· There is a long road ahead before members of the transgender community are accepted into the mainstream.
· To tackle this, an enabling environment need to be created, be it in education institutes or workplaces.
· This can only be achieved by sensitising the workforce in protecting the rights and dignity of the community.
· The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill is the right step forward in this regard.
· Apart from welfare schemes for the community, the Bill also lists obligations of establishments as well as recognisable offences against the community.
· Harassment of a transgender employee is an offence that carries with it a punishment of not less than six months imprisonment.
· While laws to safeguard these rights are the first step, more important is to ensure their implementation.
· The Bill addresses this issue as well as it recommends the formation of a National Council for Transgender Persons that is tasked with monitoring and evaluating policies formulated for transgender persons.
· Leading voices from the community have called for vocational programmes in creative fields, a recommendation made by the Standing Committee too.
