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Photojournalism: The Hijra Village of Bangladesh

 

 

In South Asia, “hijras” are identified as a category of people who are assigned as male at birth but develop a feminine gender identity. They are generally outcasted from mainstream society, and have no other way of earning money other than harassing and extorting people for money. A new government initiative aims to change that. Recently, 40 Hijra were given homes, grants, loans, livestock, and livelihood training in an effort to make them self sufficient.  

For Getty Images 

  • SHERPUR, BANGLADESH - SEPTEMBER 21:  Suravi and Hashi cook breakfast together on September 21, 2021 in Sherpur, Bangladesh. In South Asia, “hijras” are identified as a category of people who are assigned as male at birth but develop a feminine gender identity. They are generally outcasted from mainstream society, and have no other way of earning money other than harassing and extorting people for money. A new government initiative aims to change that. Recently, 40 Hijra were given homes, grants, loans, livestock, and livelihood training in an effort to make them self sufficient. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
  • SHERPUR, BANGLADESH - SEPTEMBER 21: Nishi has her hair done before going to sign land titles at a government office on September 21, 2021 in Sherpur, Bangladesh. Nishi is president of the Sherpur Hijra Welfare Association. Her role is keeping them organized, united and managing employment for the members so they don’t have to beg door to door. In 8th grade she realized that she was not a boy. One day she found a Hijra group and joined them when she was 15 years old. Before moving to this village life was hard for her and her group. Landlords were constantly giving them trouble. “Now this place is my own. My own house and my own land. Here, freedom is absolute.” She says. She got a grant from the government to buy livestock. “In society we are not allowed to eat in any restaurant and people won't let us go near any mosque. People verbally abuse us. In this place i is not happening. No one here shows us any abger or abuses us. My goal is to make everyone self reliant and help everyone to get jobs or run a business. We need more help, but I feel confident that this is possible.” Nishi says. In South Asia, “hijras” are identified as a category of people who are assigned as male at birth but develop a feminine gender identity. They are generally outcasted from mainstream society, and have no other way of earning money other than harassing and extorting people for money. A new government initiative aims to change that. Recently, 40 Hijra were given homes, grants, loans, livestock, and livelihood training in an effort to make them self sufficient. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
  • SHERPUR, BANGLADESH - SEPTEMBER 21: Hijras sign land titles at a government office on September 21, 2021 in Sherpur, Bangladesh. In South Asia, “hijras” are identified as a category of people who are assigned as male at birth but develop a feminine gender identity. They are generally outcasted from mainstream society, and have no other way of earning money other than harassing and extorting people for money. A new government initiative aims to change that. Recently, 40 Hijra were given homes, grants, loans, livestock, and livelihood training in an effort to make them self sufficient. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
  • SHERPUR, BANGLADESH - SEPTEMBER 21: Hijras joke around on September 21, 2021 in Sherpur, Bangladesh. In South Asia, “hijras” are identified as a category of people who are assigned as male at birth but develop a feminine gender identity. They are generally outcasted from mainstream society, and have no other way of earning money other than harassing and extorting people for money. A new government initiative aims to change that. Recently, 40 Hijra were given homes, grants, loans, livestock, and livelihood training in an effort to make them self sufficient. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
  • SHERPUR, BANGLADESH - SEPTEMBER 22: The Hijras sing and play music with husbands in their village on September 22, 2021 in Sherpur, Bangladesh. In South Asia, “hijras” are identified as a category of people who are assigned as male at birth but develop a feminine gender identity. They are generally outcasted from mainstream society, and have no other way of earning money other than harassing and extorting people for money. A new government initiative aims to change that. Recently, 40 Hijra were given homes, grants, loans, livestock, and livelihood training in an effort to make them self sufficient. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
  • SHERPUR, BANGLADESH - SEPTEMBER 22:  Nishi has her hair combed on September 22, 2021 in Sherpur, Bangladesh. Nishi is president of the Sherpur Hijra Welfare Association. Her role is keeping them organized, united and managing employment for the members so they don’t have to beg door to door. In 8th grade she realized that she was not a boy. One day she found a Hijra group and joined them when she was 15 years old. Before moving to this village life was hard for her and her group. Landlords were constantly giving them trouble. “Now this place is my own. My own house and my own land. Here, freedom is absolute.” She says. She got a grant from the government to buy livestock. “In society we are not allowed to eat in any restaurant and people won't let us go near any mosque. People verbally abuse us. In this place i is not happening. No one here shows us any abger or abuses us. My goal is to make everyone self reliant and help everyone to get jobs or run a business. We need more help, but I feel confident that this is possible.” Nishi says. In South Asia, “hijras” are identified as a category of people who are assigned as male at birth but develop a feminine gender identity. They are generally outcasted from mainstream society, and have no other way of earning money other than harassing and extorting people for money. A new government initiative aims to change that. Recently, 40 Hijra were given homes, grants, loans, livestock, and livelihood training in an effort to make them self sufficient. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
  • SHERPUR, BANGLADESH - SEPTEMBER 22:  Shuvoja Jahan sits by her village lake on September 22, 2021 in Sherpur, Bangladesh. Shuvoja was interested in the Hijra community since she was a child and when she was 14 she ran away from home to live with them. They recognized the first time they saw her that she was one of them. She didn't talk to her family for 5 years after she ran away. When she finally went back one time to visit them, they were angry to find out that she had become a Hijra. They locked her in a room for a week and beat her and burned her with cigarettes before she was able to escape.  In South Asia, “hijras” are identified as a category of people who are assigned as male at birth but develop a feminine gender identity. They are generally outcasted from mainstream society, and have no other way of earning money other than harassing and extorting people for money. A new government initiative aims to change that. Recently, 40 Hijra were given homes, grants, loans, livestock, and livelihood training in an effort to make them self sufficient. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
  • SHERPUR, BANGLADESH - SEPTEMBER 21: Ducks are corralled for the night on September 21, 2021 in Sherpur, Bangladesh. In South Asia, “hijras” are identified as a category of people who are assigned as male at birth but develop a feminine gender identity. They are generally outcasted from mainstream society, and have no other way of earning money other than harassing and extorting people for money. A new government initiative aims to change that. Recently, 40 Hijra were given homes, grants, loans, livestock, and livelihood training in an effort to make them self sufficient. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
  • SHERPUR, BANGLADESH - SEPTEMBER 22:  Boiskahi runs her shop on September 22, 2021 in Sherpur, Bangladesh. When Boishaki was young, her father died. When her mother got re-married Boishaki was sent to live with her grandmother. One day when she was young a group of Hijras spotter her at a marketplace and went to her grandmothers house to try to take her away with them. When her grandmother refused, the Hijras told her “just wait, she is one of us. She won’t stay with you for long”. Shortly after that, Boishaki ran away to go live with them. “Maybe if I got the love and affection from my parents then I could have stayed in the mainstream society, but I find that in the Hijra community instead.” Boishaki says. Before moving to the village, life was hard. She had to rely on extortion to make enough money to get by. But life in the new Hijra village is more respectable, she says. She runs a small shop with a grant given by the government. When the Hijras first moved in, things were not peaceful with the neighbors. There was an argument and one of the Hijras was stabbed. Law enforcement moved in quickly and arrested the man, sending the signal that the government is serious about protecting the Hijras. Things have been peaceful since. In South Asia, “hijras” are identified as a category of people who are assigned as male at birth but develop a feminine gender identity. They are generally outcasted from mainstream society, and have no other way of earning money other than harassing and extorting people for money. A new government initiative aims to change that. Recently, 40 Hijra were given homes, grants, loans, livestock, and livelihood training in an effort to make them self sufficient. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
  • SHERPUR, BANGLADESH - SEPTEMBER 21: Alo and Habiba (L-R) sit on a makeshift boat in a lake by their village on September 21, 2021 in Sherpur, Bangladesh. In South Asia, “hijras” are identified as a category of people who are assigned as male at birth but develop a feminine gender identity. They are generally outcasted from mainstream society, and have no other way of earning money other than harassing and extorting people for money. A new government initiative aims to change that. Recently, 40 Hijra were given homes, grants, loans, livestock, and livelihood training in an effort to make them self sufficient. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
  • SHERPUR, BANGLADESH - SEPTEMBER 21: Habiba and Rumana post for a photo on the road outside their village on September 21, 2021 in Sherpur, Bangladesh. Rumana was 12 or 13 when she joined the Hijra community. She was born with incomplete genitals and never felt or acted like a boy. She liked to dress like a girl, play with girls, and was always attracted to boys. Rumana met a Hijra group in the market when she was 12 year old and they invited her to join them. {quote}There are two parts of Hijra life; the bad, people bully and hate us. But the positive is that we life together, eat together, have community.{quote} Habiba says {quote}I am also a human being, I have a right to live life as a Hijra and I should not be deprived of that.{quote} She was always bullied in school for acting feminine so she dropped out in class 6. She met some Hijras in a market and joined them when she was very young. In South Asia, “hijras” are identified as a category of people who are assigned as male at birth but develop a feminine gender identity. They are generally outcasted from mainstream society, and have no other way of earning money other than harassing and extorting people for money. A new government initiative aims to change that. Recently, 40 Hijra were given homes, grants, loans, livestock, and livelihood training in an effort to make them self sufficient. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
  • SHERPUR, BANGLADESH - SEPTEMBER 22:  Nishi feeds her ducks on September 22, 2021 in Sherpur, Bangladesh. Nishi is president of the Sherpur Hijra Welfare Association. Her role is keeping them organized, united and managing employment for the members so they don’t have to beg door to door. In 8th grade she realized that she was not a boy. One day she found a Hijra group and joined them when she was 15 years old. Before moving to this village life was hard for her and her group. Landlords were constantly giving them trouble. “Now this place is my own. My own house and my own land. Here, freedom is absolute.” She says. She got a grant from the government to buy livestock. “In society we are not allowed to eat in any restaurant and people won't let us go near any mosque. People verbally abuse us. In this place i is not happening. No one here shows us any abger or abuses us. My goal is to make everyone self reliant and help everyone to get jobs or run a business. We need more help, but I feel confident that this is possible.” Nishi says. In South Asia, “hijras” are identified as a category of people who are assigned as male at birth but develop a feminine gender identity. They are generally outcasted from mainstream society, and have no other way of earning money other than harassing and extorting people for money. A new government initiative aims to change that. Recently, 40 Hijra were given homes, grants, loans, livestock, and livelihood training in an effort to make them self sufficient. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
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