Statistics of the number of transgender persons residing within the country in the recent census have proven to be far fewer than the global percentage of transgender, transvestite, and hermaphrodite in any given population.
According to the recently released census data, there are currently 10,418 transgender persons residing in Pakistan, a mere 0.0048% of the entire population. While it has globally been hard to identify transgender demographics, conservative estimates put the figure somewhere around 0.05 percent while more liberal analysis puts it anywhere around the 1.7 – 2.00 percent mark.
The numbers indicates great reluctance on the part of transgenders to come forward with their identities due to the fear of ostracisation from society. It also reveals a great deal of ignorance regarding what exactly transgender identity is in the country.
In Pakistan, according to the parliamentary bill for the “provision and protection of rights of transgender persons and their welfare and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto,” a transgender person is defined as anyone “(i) neither wholly female nor wholly male; or (ii) a combination of female or male; or (iii) neither female nor male; and whose sense of gender does not match with the gender assigned to that person at the time of birth, and includes trans-men and trans-women, persons with intersex variations and gender-queers.”
In the global context, according to estimates that are almost always on the lower side due to lesser participation, at least 0.05% of the global population falls into the second or first category of the definition. These are those members of the transgender community that have actual anatomical differences to the other two genders. Meanwhile if those in the third category alone are taken, in more conservative areas they make up to 0.6 percent of the population.
The United States affiliate for the Organisation Intersex International has said that at least 1.7 percent of all populations are one form or the other of intersex individuals. Adding to that the 0.6% of transgender individuals, makes a much larger number than the one being cited in this year’s census.
By these estimates, the 10,418 figure falls nowhere what a logical figure should be. The hermaphrodite population, who have irreversible physical characteristics, make up 0.05 percent of any population – 1 out of every 2000 persons. This would make hermaphrodites alone more than 10 times the entire transgender population being cited in the census.
Meanwhile, if the definition of transgender persons in part three of the parliamentary definition is to be taken into consideration, then that alone would make the figure at least 0.6 percent of the entire population. This would make just the number of transgenders under the third description more than 100 times the amount of all transgenders given in the report.
Furthermore, if all transgender, intersex, transvestite, hermaphrodite and self-identifying gender-queer persons are included as in the parliamentary definition, there would be a much larger diaspora of persons identifying as transgender. And while no accurate figures have been curated globally due to societal pressures, the 10,418 figure broken down into 6,709 in Punjab, 2,527 in Sindh, 913 in KP and only 109 in Balochistan is way off from the global figures.
Speaking to Pakistan Today, Amy Bowersox, a transgender rights activist and longtime group facilitator explained that it was hard to get numbers accurately anywhere “let alone in places like Pakistan.”
“First of all, how do you define “transgender”? Do you include just those people who are “out” and transitioning in one form or another?” said the activist.
Speaking about the situation in the United States, she said that even there it was hard to gauge the extent of the situation.
“It’s now an accepted figure that there are approximately 1.2 million trans people in the U.S. today. Not too long ago, the estimate was half that. I strongly suspect even the revised estimate is still low,” she added.
Amy added that she was not surprised by the figure and that even 10,000 was a fairly decent number given the cultural barriers in the country.
“Quite frankly, I’m amazed that as many as 10,000 trans people there were willing to be identified as such” added Ms Bowersox.
However to conclude, Bowersox did say that the 10,000 figure was too low and not even close to a fair representation.
I also strongly suspect that the Pakistani figure is too low, maybe by a lot” she ended.