Hijras Are Women: Third Gender Rights in India

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Hijras Are Women: Third Gender Rights in India

Photograph

By: Indranil Mukherjee

Date: June 23, 2004

Source: AFP/Getty Images

About the Photographer: Indranil Mukherjee is a staff photographer for AFP/Getty Images. Her portfolio includes thousands of published photographs across a broad spectrum of news and feature stories.

INTRODUCTION

Hijras occupy a third-gender role and are considered a sub-caste throughout Indian culture. They reside largely in secretive subcultures located in Bombay, Hydrabad, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Southern India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Hijras are primarily defined as men who dress and act like women. However, the definition is deeper. These men wear women's jewelry and brightly adorned saris. They refer to themselves with the feminine pronoun and expect others to do so as well. Ideally, hijras renounce sexual desires and practices by undergoing castration in order to be reborn as hijras. The term hijras derives from the Urdu word meaning "impotent ones" and they claim ancient lineages. Some are born with deformed or missing genitalia, while others optionally become castrated in their youth. Although true hijras are eunuchs, a significant proportion participate in sexual activities, either in the form of prostitution or in relations with their husbands.

Through the ambiguous gender identification of the hijras and confrontational practices of the group, they are viewed by many in their native countries as dirty outcasts with no shame, or social pariahs. However, the group has been institutionalized into the culture through tradition. There is a religious context for the hijras within Indian culture. In one tale, after the god Siva is asked to create the world, he disappears for 1,000 years. In his absence, the gods Vishnu and Brahma become impatient and create other gods and beings. Siva reappears ready to perform his creation and is angered by the actions of Vishnu and Brahma. He brakes off his linga, or phallus, and throws it to earth where it becomes a source of universal fertility. In the same context, as a hijras relinquishes his own fertility, he becomes gifted with universal procreative powers. As a result, many hijras derive their social and religious legitimacy from this tradition. Believed to possess the power to bestow fertility on a newly wed couple or on children, hijras often appear uninvited to weddings or birth parties. They perform dances and demand gifts or threaten the couple or child with curses. If a gratuity is not offered to the hijras, they will threaten to expose themselves. Hijras are also known to beg for money and engage in prostitution.

Hijras live in a communal setting under the guidance of a "guru." The hijras, upon entrance into the guru's household, takes the guru's surname and receives training in the activities of the household and culture. The hijras becomes a "chelas," or disciple and is supervised by the guru. They are expected to relinquish earnings, from performances at weddings and birth parties, begging, or prostitution, to their guru. The guru is expected to meet the chelas basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter.

PRIMARY SOURCE

HIJRAS ARE WOMEN: THIRD GENDER RIGHTS IN INDIA

See primary source image.

SIGNIFICANCE

An estimated two million hijras live in India. Although many occupy a marginalized minority within the country, many are becoming politically active. Since 1998, hijras have won local, state, and national elections, sometimes outperforming the prevailing political parties. In 2001, the All-India convention of Hijras met in Rohtak, a farming town northwest of Dehli. Over 1,000 hijras met to create a political strategy. One slogan of the hijras political campaigns states, "You don't need genitals for politics; you need brains and integrity."

Beginning in 1998, Shobha Nehru won a city council seat in Hissor, located in the Northern Indian state of Haryana. In 2000, "Aunt" Shabnam won a state legislative assembly position. Also in 2000, Kamla Jaan was elected mayor of Katni, a prosperous mining town in central Madhya Pradesh. Asha Devi was also elected to a mayoral position. Remarkably, these candidates ran as hijras. They identified themselves as genderless, without ties to tradition, families, and castes. As a result, they were able to promote a platform free from corruption within prevailing Indian politics. Even still, politicians use the label of "hijras" to call opponents who appear to be impotent of power or political will.

In addition to political power, hijras have been instrumental in the creation of HIV/AIDS awareness and human rights organizations such as Dai Welfare Society and the Hijra Kalyan Sabha.

FURTHER RESOURCES

Periodicals

Reddy, Gayatry. "'Men Who Would be Kings: Celibacy, Emasculation, and the Re-Production of Hijras in Contemporary Indian Politics". Social Research (Spring, 2003): 70, 1.