Session Report
Aishwarya Dutta
In celebration of pride month, IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi, in association with Gender Impact Studies Center (GISC), initiated An Online International Summer School Program | A Five-Day Immersive Online Certificate Training Course on Beyond Binaries: Understanding Sexual Identities and Queer Rights Issues in India.
Day three of this riveting programme was led by Professor Mala Ramanathan, Professor, AMCHSS, SCTIMST & Working, Editor, Indian Journal of Medical Ethics.
The session was set about with welcoming remarks by Professor Vibhuti Patel, Visiting Professor at IMPRI and a former Professor at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. She reiterated the proceedings of the previous day and emphasised on the focus of Day 3: Discovering the Less Explored Areas of Queer Studies.
Professor Ramanathan talked about attempting to measure sex, gender and sexual identities and related contexts. Her main point of focus was the neglect of the government in terms of the records which are available about the LGBTQIA+ Community. She said things are gradually taking place in our country. Various communities which need to be made visible are gaining that public visibility. Gradually the Government of India is embracing a rights perspective though in a limited way.
But rights don’t gel very well with auditors and accountants. But to keep a track of progress numbers matter. Several minority groups are stigmatised by law, culture and other factors and their health gets neglected. While doing analysis of the vaccinations during Covid, she highlighted how she found there was no data on what portions of these communities were left out and the numbers of the community ‘transgender were never increasing at any base so to make progress we have to go far. But she emphasised that the beginning is counting.
She stated that the objectives of this presentation are : identifying the rationale for attempting to measure sex, gender and sexual identity and the risks to individuals across contexts and to describe some of the means of measuring these conceptualisations.
Identifying the rationale for attempting to measure sex, gender and sexual identity
There is a need to count the LGBTQIA+ community because not being counted could result in having one’s rights not being upheld and not being recognized in our administrative records. She then moved on to define sex and gender. Visual inspection of a person does not define what their sex or gender is.
Mere categorisation of male and female would cause people being left out. There was a vivid description of various gender identities i.e., transgender, cisgender, nonbinary, gender queer, two-spirited and others and also sexual orientation identities like heterosexual/straight, homosexual/gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Queer and others. Data collection of these left out communities is possible only if the following aspects are adhered to: inclusiveness, precision, autonomy, parsimony and privacy. The risks of disclosure of data is high so there needs to be regulations for the effective use of data and avoid leakage.
Even while doing research surveys are conducted and there is a risk of leakage of information while these surveys are conducted. Even for official purposes administrators need to be aware to respect the right to privacy of these groups. Professor Ramanathan also emphasised on the need of even the Ethics Committee to respect the right to privacy. Data has to be collected responsibly and used appropriately. And this is where parsimony becomes very important.
Means of measuring these conceptualisations
The best way to identify these people is to ask them a respectful question: Which one of the following best represents how you think of yourself? And then give them options like Lesbian or gay, Bisexual, two-spirited, etc., and the questions can vary. These are some of the ways by which data can be collected about these communities.
There should also be an evaluation of the means of counting. Constant verification and correction of the terms in keeping with cultural and historical developments is required. The aim, as Professor Ramanathan highlights, is to improve the health and well-being of sexual and gender minorities.
Merely using an all encompassing term such as transgender or tirunangai does not serve to capture the complexity of the intersections of sex, gender and sexual identity. The indian context is more complex with multiple languages, cultures and ethnicities all of which contribute to this complexity. If we profess to respect the rights of sexual minorities, we need to determine ways of counting them meaningfully to be able to provide for them in respectful and relevant ways across contexts.
A good starting point, as recommended by Professor Ramanathan, would be an inclusive panel of subject experts and individuals to collate the ways and means of identifying, counting and rendering visible the challenges that they face.
Thus the presentation of Professor Rmanathan dealt extensively with how data collection of these communities need to be a very private process which would be of no personal harm to these individuals.
Read more session reports from Day 3 of Beyond Binaries: Understanding Sexual Identities and Queer Rights Issues in India:
Issues in Queer Mental Healthcare in an Indian Context: Ageing, Substance Abuse and Access.
Transformation required from Homo Economicus to Homo Ethicus.
