Index shows worldwide variance in transgender rights and discrimination
As LGBT+ History Month in the UK draws to a close, we highlight research featuring a new index that measures and maps transgender rights throughout the world.
The findings appeared in an open access and openly available paper in Perspectives on Politics, a Cambridge University Press journal published on behalf of the American Political Science Association.
The Trans Rights Indicator Project (TRIP) index is among the first indexes to provide a collection of trans-specific measures on a global scale. The dataset includes fourteen indicators that capture the presence or absence of national laws related to criminalisation, legal gender recognition and anti-discrimination protections.
The index revealed that comparisons between the TRIP indicators and data on LGB (lesbian, gay, bisexual) rights demonstrate that countries do not inherently treat sexual- and gender-identity minorities equally. For example, in Austria and South Africa, sexual orientation minorities had far greater legal rights than transgender individuals.
Other key findings included:
- Direct criminalisation of transgender people is increasing. In 2000, eight countries explicitly criminalised people based on gender identity or expression: Guyana, Jordan, Lebanon, Malawi, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and sub-nationally in Nigeria and Malaysia. By 2021, five additional countries implemented criminal provisions: the Gambia, Indonesia, Oman, South Sudan, and Kuwait.
- Indirect criminalisation of transgender people is an ongoing global issue. Indirect criminalisation can occur through the presence and arbitrary application of laws on behaviour. In 2000, transgender people were susceptible to indirect criminalisation in at least 112 countries. Since then, this number has decreased only slightly, with indirect criminalisation remaining present in 104 countries as of 2021.
- Laws enabling gender recognition have grown significantly more widespread over the past two decades. In 2000, only 18 countries had laws allowing individuals to change their gender markers on legal identity documents, and most of these countries were in Europe. By 2021, 60 countries allowed legal gender marker changes. Western Europe remained the front-runner in this category, with 19 of the recognising countries in this region. New Zealand was the only other Western country with national recognition.
- Non-binary gender and third-gender recognition continues to be rare. As of 2021, only eight countries allowed individuals to select a non-binary gender on identity documents beyond passports. These countries are: Argentina, Uruguay, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Iceland, and Malta. The Asian countries were the first to make these gender marker options available.
Research author and creator of TRIP, Myles Williamson, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Alabama, said:
“Despite the direct attacks that transgender people face, political science scholarship rarely examines these individuals and their rights on a global scale. Instead, studies tend to treat the LGBT community as homogenous, often using measures related to sexual orientation as a proxy for transgender rights.
“Limitations in data availability and accessibility partly explain the tendency to conflate sexual orientation and gender identity in cross-national LGBT research.
“My hope is that trans rights advocates can use TRIP data to identify where trans minorities may be the most at risk and allocate resources accordingly. Policymakers, advocacy organisations, and the wider public ought to know what realities transgender people truly face worldwide and ensure that LGBT-based policies adequately include transgender individuals.”
To learn more about LGBTQIA+ history and rights, take a look at five recommended books from Cambridge University Press.
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