Two transgender women in Tamil Nadu have landed government jobs in district administration branches after years of facing rejection, thereby changing the narrative for all future genderqueer people claiming their rights to equality and livelihood. The Virudhunagar district administration has appointed P Saranya as the head of its district resource center panchayats, and Ramya Sri as a data entry operator. The former has an MBA degree, while the latter is a graduate in computer applications and also has a degree in education.
Both Saranya and Ramya revealed in an interview with the New Indian Express that while they have degrees, they have been facing discrimination due to their gender and sexual identity and were unable to claim respectable jobs as per their qualifications.
This all changed when the Virudhunagar district collector, J Meghnath Reddy, came across their applications for administrative jobs. “There was a discussion on hiring educated people looking for jobs,” he revealed in the interview. “That is when I came to know of two trans persons also looking for employment. I thought we must help them in getting jobs, which would also inspire other trans persons.”