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Hijra

'Hijra' is the designation for a social group and third-gender role in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, with a tradition going back centuries. Hijras are usually persons born as boys (AMAB) who present themselves in a feminine role, sometimes with religious or ceremonial significance. Since 2014, India formally recognises 'hijra' as a third gender.

What is meant by it?

Hijra is not an exact synonym for 'transgender': it is a cultural and social role with its own community structures (so-called gharanas led by a guru), religious functions (blessings at weddings and births) and a specific social history. Some hijras undergo castration ('nirvan'); others do not. The experience explicitly cannot be transferred one-to-one to Western gender categories.

Distinction and overlap

In contemporary activist usage 'hijra' is sometimes presented as the 'Indian transgender' equivalent, but that does not do justice to the specificity of the tradition. Similar third-gender roles elsewhere are kathoey (Thailand), fa'afafine (Samoa), muxe (Mexico) and two-spirit (indigenous North America).

Social and practical context

The legal recognition in India (2014, NALSA ruling) gave hijras official status, but their socio-economic position remains precarious: many hijras live in poverty, without regular employment or housing. The community has its own survival economy, partly through traditional blessing rituals, partly through informal work.

Critical perspectives

The recent Western identification of hijra with 'non-binary' or 'transgender' projects contemporary categories onto a centuries-old tradition that looks fundamentally different. Hijra is in its own right a socio-religious role; adding the label to a transglobal 'gender diversity' canon can detract from rather than do justice to the tradition. At the same time, the economic and social precarity of many hijras is real.