By Manleen Bawa
On 6th November 2017, the Supreme Court (SC) of India issued a notice to Air India and the Civil Aviation Ministry after hearing the plea of a transgender being denied a job on the basis of her sexual orientation. Shanavi Ponnusamy filed a petition at the apex court after Air India cited her ?gender? as the reason for why she could not be offered a job as a cabin crew member. The bench comprising of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud directed Air India to create a ?third category? for jobs.
Shanavi Ponnusamy?s story
Ponnusamy had previously worked at Sutherland, an Air India Customer Support before undergoing a Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) in Bangkok in 2014. She applied for the job opening for female cabin crew members at Air India. After clearing the prescribed examinations, she received a call letter but the firm refused to hire her as they claimed that they did not have a category to ?include? her. She attempted to meet the Chairman and Managing Director of Air India to pursue her case but was unable to. She then decided to approach the highest judicial authority of India to fight against the gender discrimination she had experienced.
The law speaks
In a landmark judgement by the bench comprising of K.S. Radhakrishnan and A.K. Sikri, the Indian State officially gave recognition to the transgender community as the ?third gender.? On 15th April 2014, in the case of National Legal Services Authority vs Union Of India & Others, it was declared that ?Hijras, Eunuchs, apart from binary gender, be treated as ?third gender? for the purpose of safeguarding their rights under Part III of our Constitution and the laws made by the Parliament and the State Legislature. ? This judgement upheld Article 21 of the Indian Constitution which guarantees citizens the Right to Life. The dictum enshrined in Article 14 of the Indian Constitution which establishes the primacy of equality and prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth was also preserved.
A long road to societal acceptance
While the law recognises and promises to treat the transgender community in a non-discriminatory manner, social acceptance for the same is a distant reality. The historical pervasiveness of the issue makes it a difficult transition in the Indian psyche. Considered as the ?emasculated? in a society which eulogies masculinity, transgenders have been systemically placed away from the centre and subsequently at the fringes. A country which refuses to acknowledge the existence of homosexuals, bisexuals or any other form of sexual deviance from the perceived norm is bound to be resistant to such a progressive change.
Can legislation drive social change?
It is imperative to note here that legal changes are single-handedly the most crucial factors in steering a change in societal perception. They may not actualise social transitions but they certainly pave the way for acceptance through legal protection and penalisation of violators. Breaking the pattern of ?otherisation? and critically analysing social practices and situations to decode the myth propounded is extremely necessary to bring about changes in the mindset of the masses. The deep entrenchment of the process of socialisation and enculturation which determine social behaviour ties the individual firmly to the stated norm and shattering its entrapments is an exercise demanding sustained efforts in counter-information.
Featured Image Credits:?Nick Kenrick.. via Visual Hunt / CC BY-NC-SA
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