Trans Men Are More Invisible In Indian Society Than Trans Women. Why?

My mother is a homemaker. Always has been. We don’t share a business or a similar career. But my mother has been the greatest contributor to my career, she’s my mentor. Surprised? Here’s how.

From the time I remember, she has been in the kitchen. Cooking multiple meals and packing endless tiffin boxes. It’s not that I didn’t help, but she seldom insisted on me learning to cook or being in the kitchen. For that matter, not once did she mention that I had to learn cooking because I would be married off one day. Whatever meals I prepare today I have learned from her, but only when I started going to work. She didn’t “train me” to “make my way to a man’s heart through his stomach”.

She encouraged me to focus on a career, not on ‘marriageable age’

Post my degree, when proposals started arriving, she was in no hurry to go groom hunting for me.

It is often discussed as an absolute fact that women in India are deeply committed to working for the survival and growth of their families; 80% of them agree to compromise their identity for their family, partner or society. This despite the fact that almost 60% women think that their identity should be defined by themselves.

Women’s minds are often shaped in a certain way from childhood

They are religiously reminded about their ‘Apna Ghar’ and how one day they will leave onto the new journey of their married life. No matter how educated or qualified a girl may become in India, it’s always compared with her ability to confide in her husband and become a dedicated mother, (even if she don’t want to embrace motherhood) to be precise.

It all starts with subtle reminders about not playing outside as it may get you tanned, or how you should not be too opinionated and aware of your rights.