Constitutional Human Rights Of Transgender Persons In Pakistan: A Linguistic And Social Inquiry

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the lexical choices made in the Constitution to represent gender, the granted constitutional human rights of transgender persons, and contradictory social practices from the perspective of making them powerless and marginalized in terms of non-gender binary. The quantitative analysis of the second section of the Constitution related to human rights and principles of policy for government in terms of nouns and personal pronouns to represent generic pronouns and its implication for gender representation in a legal document was carried out through simple concordance program 4.0.5 by generating word list of data to find the frequencies. Moreover, the basic human rights of dignity, education, health care, financial security, employment opportunities, and equality in all respects ensured to all the citizens of state are discussed and social realizations of these rights for transgender are explored. The findings reveal that transgender persons neither have any representation in the Constitution of Pakistan nor they are the recipients of basic human rights in Pakistani society as compared to other marginalized groups like women, children and differently able people. To conclude, it can be said that although in the last decade, governments have passed some policies (Transgender Persons Welfare Policy, 2018) to empower Transgender community, yet, a long-term nation based social awareness program and implementation of policies are recommended to make transgender persons’ lives better in letter and spirit.

Addressing Workplace Violence Against Transgender Individuals Ensuring Inclusive And Safe Environments

“…Creating inclusive and safe spaces for transgender people to work is an urgent matter in Pakistan that needs to be addressed. According to multiple sources (Abdullah et al, 2012;"Social Exclusion and Mental Health Issues of Transgender Community in Lahore City", 2023;Asghar & Shahzad, 2018;Rashid & Umar, 2022;Abbas, 2021;Malik et al, 2022;Cheema & Jamal, 2022;Butt, 2021;Alam, 2019), transgender people in Pakistan experience discrimination. Asghar and Shahzad (2018), Rashid and Umar (2022), Abbas (2021), Malik and colleagues (2022), Cheema and Jamal (2022), Butt (2021), andAlam (2019) all point to a lack of knowledge and acceptance of transgender people as a cause of discrimination and violence in Pakistan.…”

“…Employers must take proactive steps and implement rules to make their workplaces welcoming and safe for transgender employees. Several authors (Shah et al, 2023;Rashid & Umar, 2022;Ali et al, 2021;Redding, 2019;Malik et al, 2022) agree that Pakistan's Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, passed in 2018, is a major step forwards in protecting the rights of transgender people in the country. However, the success of these regulations and rules depends on how well they are carried out and enforced (Rashid & Umar, 2022;Redding, 2019).…”

“…Workplace violence against transgender people requires a multi-stakeholder response, not only legal and policy changes. Comprehensive policies and programmes cannot be created or implemented without cooperation between government agencies, civil society organisations, employers, and transgender advocacy groups (Yousaf & Schmiede, 2016;Rashid & Umar, 2022;Ali et al, 2021;Malik et al, 2022). Yousaf and Schmiede (2016), Rashid and Umar (2022), Ali et al (2021), and Malik and colleagues (2022) all stress the need of workplace anti-discrimination measures that are effectively enforced.…”