For trans youth, working in corporate India is a losing battle

It was a smoggy November morning in 2023. At the Gurugram shelter run by the Transgender Welfare Equity and Empowerment Trust, Ajay*, a trans man in his mid-20s, hurriedly dressed and gobbled up a protein-heavy breakfast. Despite his haste, Ajay looked sharp. His trousers weren’t creased. His brogues were polished.

Ajay had just started work at a private export-import firm located in Cyber City in Gurugram. It was his first corporate job and he wanted to look the part.

There are 487,803 transgender people in India, according to census data. The last census was conducted more than a decade ago in 2011, so that number is likely a massive undercount by now.

A 2018 study commissioned by the National Human Rights Commission found that over 96% of India’s transgender persons were denied jobs and forced into low-paying, and sometimes unsafe work. Although 80% trans people met eligibility requirements but were still denied jobs, stated the study.

Ajay, with his masters degree in psychology and a corporate job, is a rare exception to the norm – a trans person with a well-paying job that matches his qualifications.

In the last couple of years, many companies have been coming forward, especially ahead of Pride month in June every year, with their diversity and inclusion programmes to hire transgender job-seekers, according to Born2Win and Transgender Welfare Equity and Empowerment Trust, the trans support groups in India. But some trans activists and scholars question the intentions of the employers.

“Superficial and frustrating”, is how Swetha C, a trans activist and founder-director of Chennai-based Born2Win Social Welfare Trust, described the emerging trend of corporate India trying to woo transgender people. “When companies contact me at the last minute for immediate hires, I recognise their insincerity and don’t respond.” Born2Win Social Welfare Trust is a non-profit funded by and run for transgender and intersex persons.

However, opportunities like these are often the only path to employment for trans persons like Ajay.

After completing his education, Ajay said that he struggled to land a job but eventually got one in early 2022. He worked as a data entry operator at the warehouse of an e-commerce company in Ayodhya where he grew up.

Although Ajay identified as male by then, he hadn’t yet come out as a trans man. His conservative family lived nearby, which meant he couldn’t dress as he wished.

The workplace proved to be an additional source of stress for Ajay. He had disclosed his trans identity to the company’s human resources department, but not to his colleagues. He felt pressured to socialise as a woman, since his colleagues saw him as female – the gender he was assigned at birth. In the middle of 2022, he took a break from work to undergo gender affirmation surgery. When he returned in November 2022, things got worse at work.

“My colleagues asked me uncomfortable questions like ‘why did you transition, what happens when one transitions’,” he told me. Frustrated and stressed by the treatment he was facing, he decided to use his savings and left for the National Capital Region in April 2023. He had heard from friends that the national capital offered better job opportunities for trans people and it was easier to access Hormone Replacement Therapy. He also got to know about the Transgender Welfare Equity and Empowerment Trust Foundations’s shelter home named AASRA (which translates to “support” in Hindi) became his first stop.

About four months later, he finally found a job through the Transgender Welfare Equity and Empowerment Trust.

Finding stable and safe employment was a significant milestone for Ajay. The challenges he faced in order to get there reflect the pervasive discrimination that many in the LGBTQIA+ community encounter in the workplace.‍

Deloitte’s LGBT+ Inclusion @ Work Survey found that in 2023, around 60% of 455 Indian respondents worked for employers that, in their view, displayed “commitment to LGBTQIA+ inclusion.” But only 6% of the 455 Indian respondents identified as transgender, non-binary, or gender queer. And four in 10 of all queer respondents experienced non-inclusive behaviours at work.

While the Deloitte survey highlights the presence of LGBTQIA+ inclusive employers in India, it also underscores the prevalence of discriminatory behaviour faced by many queer employees, indicating a need for better policies and practices.

India lost 0.1%-1.4 % of its gross domestic product because of discrimination against LGBTQIA+ groups, estimated Lee Badgett in a 2014 World Bank paper and her book The Economic Case for LGBT Equality. Badgett is an economics professor emerita at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the chief economist for Koppa: The LGBTI+ Economic Power Lab. Badgett explained that the inequality that queer people experience throughout their lives ensures that they are more likely to be poor than others. “Discrimination isn’t just a social justice issue, but also an economic development one,” she said.‍

From school to salary ‍

The economic impact of discrimination is just one facet of the broader struggle faced by LGBTQIA+ individuals trying to secure jobs, beginning in their formative years and extending into their professional lives.

Data from the 2011 census also showed that only 46% of those who chose the “third” gender were literate, compared to the 74% overall literacy rate.

Badgett argues that mistreatment from classmates and teachers in their formative years makes it hard for queer youth to get a full education, which further prevents them from finding suitable employment. Swetha, who has helped close to 100 trans persons resume their education years – sometimes decades – after they dropped out, echoes this view.

Veer, a trans man from a village in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, nearly dropped out when he was in the Class 10. He said that his family didn’t support his genderqueer identity. “They used to force me to wear skirts at school, ” said Veer, his pompadour held back in a neat short wave with a generous dose of hair gel. “I would refuse to go. I had to be dragged to classes.” He felt a constant pressure to conform to the gender binary in his school. His grades fell. He knew that education and employment was his only escape. After completing his Class 12, he left his village and moved to Delhi.

Badgett explained that “minority stress” is a constant companion for people like Veer. The term was coined by Ilan H Meyer in 1995. Meyer, a professor of sociomedical sciences at Columbia University, introduced the concept to describe the chronic stress experienced by members of stigmatised minority groups, particularly LGBTQIA+ individuals, due to social prejudice and discrimination.

Badgett points out that minority stress in some cases could indirectly prevent queer people from completing their education and makes them doubt themselves while applying for jobs.

In 2022, Karnatake reserved 150 of 15,000 teaching positions for transgender persons, but only received two applications from trans persons out of a total of 70,000 applicants. The school education minister at the time, B C Nagesh, reportedly said that the trans people “either did not possess Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) degrees or were afraid of social stigma.” The next year in December 2023, Karnataka became the first state to introduce a 1 percent quota in public jobs for the transgender community.

Liz Mount, sociologist and author of the upcoming book ‘New’ Women: Trans Women, Hijras and the Remaking of Inequality in India, discovered that many qualified transgender professionals in India begin their careers in the nonprofit sector. Many of her interviewees shared stories of workplace violence. “They find that non-governmental organisations are relatively better. Very few find employment elsewhere or see career growth,” she explained. She found that they see nonprofits as better workplaces compared to other ways of earning incomes, especially soliciting money and sex work.

Over the last decade-and-a-half, India has made some strides in enacting legislation that protects the rights of its LGBTQIA+ citizens. The decriminalisation of Section 377 and the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act suggest that the country is moving towards a more inclusive work environment. However, the discrimination faced by some trans persons like Veer and Ajay, as well as the larger backdrop of continuing exclusion faced by the community, paints a different picture of corporate India.

Lack of skill training

Given the discrimination they face in formal learning environments, trans people often experience a skill barrier when they try to access employment opportunities. Several organisations, including Transgender Welfare Equity and Empowerment Trust and Born2Win, are now stepping up to support transgender individuals by providing skill development, training and corporate sensitisation workshops.

Ajay said his confidence soared after communication classes at Transgender Welfare Equity and Empowerment Trust, where he learned to assertively introduce himself with his pronouns.

Transgender Welfare Equity and Empowerment Trust offers career-ready courses, including paid internships with partner companies like Lalit Group of Hotels and Tata Steel. Swetha also emphasises the importance of creating self-employment avenues as an alternative to corporate jobs. She said she has assisted over 125 transgender individuals in courses like tailoring, driving, and cosmetology.

These skill development initiatives, however, face their own challenges. “Skilling is time-consuming,” explained Maya Awasthy, co-founder and director in charge of external relations, advocacy, fundraising and business development at Transgender Welfare Equity and Empowerment Trust.

She highlighted that for trans youth, immediate income often takes priority because they are socio-economically vulnerable. And even if a trans person is able to participate in such a program, the outcome is far from certain. Swetha notes a concerning trend: several placement agencies, corporates, and organisations call many trans youth to attend skill development programs but don’t offer them jobs afterwards, leaving them feeling exploited.

“In general, many companies use training programmes as an opportunity to hire people. But they also use such events to publicise that they train a large group of LGBTQIA+ youth. But don’t offer them employment,” said Swetha. In 2023, Ajay attended one such online training programme with a job-placement agency catering to trans and queer youth. Ajay said that neither he nor the many other queer participants he knew were offered any jobs at the training. “I pleaded to the organisers to refer me to hiring managers,” he said. “I even agreed to a pay cut, but to no avail.”

In search of health and shelter

Even when the elusive job opportunities do turn up at the door for trans persons, health challenges threaten to show them out. Sheeba*, 25, a transwoman from Chennai, has completed BSC biotech. She taught at a school and was an English tutor before she transitioned. She said that most job doors closed for her after her gender affirmation surgery. The only job she found was in the warehouse of an e-commerce firm in Chennai.

“I have so much experience, yet I didn’t get a job that matches it,” she said. At the warehouse, she was required to do intense physical labour, which was difficult for her given she had recently undergone the surgery. Sheeba requested to be assigned to something less labour intensive after her stitches tore from lifting heavy items, but to no avail.

Awasthy asserts that employers must offer trans persons healthcare benefits and inclusive sick leave policies if they are serious about creating inclusive work environments. “Health expenses [from hormone replacement therapy, gender affirmation procedures, mental health support, and even general healthcare] can push them into a desperate situation,” she said.

But far from providing support, many hiring managers discriminate against transitioning or transitioned trans persons based on their changing appearance.

Mohit*, a 22-year-old law graduate from Uttar Pradesh, arrived in New Delhi in 2021 seeking healthcare services to support his gender transition. Accompanied by his partner, he navigated the city through doctors’ appointments, counselling, and medical testing. Menial jobs, his father’s support and savings helped cover his health expenses.

As Mohit’s body changed, he felt relieved, but hiring managers didn’t share his confidence. “When your appearance and documentation don’t match, getting hired is an uphill task,” he said. He aced interviews but believed prospective employers rejected him upon seeing his documentation with his deadname. “Some of them said they were worried that their staff would feel uncomfortable with me,” Mohit said. “They would not even give me a chance or put me on a trial period for one or two months.”

A long way to go

Since pervasive discrimination often puts trans candidates out of contention when they are competing with cis persons, affirmative action initiatives targeting the queer community have emerged as a ray of hope.

Mohit was offered a job at the National Transgender Employment Mela in 2023. This was a first of its kind job fair for trans youth, where 300 trans youth applied for jobs at 30 companies.Fifty-eight of them received job offers.

The India Workplace Equality Index 2023 , managed by a group of companies, hands out awards for workplaces that have diversity and inclusion initiatives focusing on LGBTQIA+. Over 120 organisations from 20 sectors participated in the awards in 2024, the report noted. Leaders from IBM, Godrej Properties Limited and Walmart India were recognised for hiring trans persons as well as introducing transgender-friendly policies. For instance, Godrej was awarded for growing trans representation in their company from 18 employees to over 85 across various levels.

In 2019, consultancy firm Pride Circle launched Reimagining Inclusion for Social Equity, India’s first job fair for queer youth. They held their latest event in April. According to their latest release, over the last five fairs, out of 5,750 queer job seekers, over 1,000 have been placed. These fairs were held in Bengaluru and Delhi in 2019 and 2020, respectively, but have been virtual in recent years. In 2023, 66 companies participated.

However, landing a job doesn’t necessarily mean happily ever after for trans persons. Getting employed is one thing, staying employed is quite another. In 2017, Kerala’s Kochi metro made headlines for hiring 23 trans people. But within a few years, nearly all of them quit, due to a lack of restrooms, transparent hiring processes and discrimination by other staff.

The Deloitte report revealed that many respondents faced microaggressions and harassment. The most common non-inclusive behaviour, according to the report, was that the LGBTQIA+ people felt patronised, undermined, or underestimated due to their gender and sexual identity. “Even if there is only one trans employee in a large organisation, there should be universal sensitisation training,” said Awasthy.

Ajay said that his workplace – the import-export firm in Cyber City – is “trans friendly” and that his colleagues have undergone sensitivity training programmes. Many of his friends, however, haven’t been as lucky.

Ajay said, “They tell me that they get asked all sorts of questions at work – ‘why are you like this’, ‘what is wrong with you’.”

Very often, the attrition rate is high [at many corporate workspaces] because of poor increments and workplace discrimination, noted Swetha. The Deloitte survey also shows that almost three-quarters of Indian respondents are looking to change employers to find a more inclusive organisation – more than double the global average.

Sheeba, for instance, eventually left the e-commerce warehouse as the company refused to give her an increment or promote her despite promising them to her at the hiring stage. “All this while, the company used my photo in its diversity and inclusion brochures,” she said.

Swetha, particularly, is visibly frustrated with trans youth being tokenised and de-prioritised for secure futures in corporations. Even as I sat with her, Swetha received a call from a hiring manager who wanted her to “send some trans youth for a training drive”. She was angry and upset when she returned to resume the interview.

“There is no accountability in this process,” she said. “What queer empowerment? My empowerment dies every time [the companies] do this.”‍‍

Names marked * have been changed to protect identity. ‍

The reporting for this story was supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Kim Wall Memorial Fund.

Mahima Jain is an award-winning independent journalist covering the socio-economics of gender, environment and health.

Jose (she/they) is a non-binary illustrator from Kerala whose work highlights personal stories marked by gender, body experiences and their south-Indian heritage. While not lost in their sketchbook, they can be found devouring all things camp and horror.

This article was first published on Queerbeat.

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