Giving Compass' Take: 

• The term gender-diversity means individuals with a variety of gender expressions that do not necessarily conform to traditional gender norms that people were assigned at birth. Gender-diverse people are susceptible to different types of violence, limited access to employment, and discrimination because of how they identify and what country they live in.

• How can international development organizations work towards embracing these communities and help local people embrace their own gender-diverse populations?

• In the United States, read about just one of many ways that the transgender population face discrimination. 

So far in this series we have looked at the different issues women and men face when they participate in economic development projects. But the experience of gender and gender discrimination is not limited to these two categories.

(Note: We will use the term gender-diverse people to refer to individuals with a variety of gender expressions that do not conform to the social norms of the gender they were assigned at birth. Trans or transgender has been used in a similar way in North America, but people in other parts of the world do not necessarily recognize or identify with that term. We will use trans to refer only to people who identify themselves that way.)

Gender-diverse people face different kinds of economic inclusion and exclusion than other marginalized groups. Even in places where gender diversity has a long history, there can be a great deal of societal ambivalence toward gender-diverse people. For instance, In contemporary Myanmar, society tends to channel gender-diverse people looking for more prestigious work into the beauty industry. Such limited forms of economic inclusion still marginalize gender-diverse people by confining them to specific social and economic spaces, while other genders have access to more varied opportunities.

Attempting to speak for gender-diverse people can be as damaging as ignoring the specific issues that they face.In the United States, there are growing concerns among the gender-diverse community that increased visibility of gender-diverse people in society has led to increased violence against them. Greater representation of gender-diverse people in the media does not necessarily translate into greater social or economic power, particularly when most media is created by cis-gender people (people who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth).

Given the extent and importance of gender diversity in societies around the world, what should people who want to create more equitable economic and social systems do?

  1. Take time to understand local gender categories and norms.
  2. Communities and employers need to include gender-diverse people in ways that do not reinforce their separateness or marginalization.
  3. Talk to gender-diverse people before designing projects to assist them.

Read more on reconsidering gender diversity by Rachel Goodman and Sarah Kaplan at The Stanford Social Innovation Review.