Jenner's transition is great for trans people. Including them in the census would be even better
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Version 0 of 1. American sports star Bruce Jenner has completed her transition to Caitlyn with a beautiful Vanity Fair cover by iconic photographer Annie Liebowitz. Powerful, wealthy and a member of one of the most successful and influential media families in America, Jenner’s journey has gripped the nation. But as spectacular as her story has been, it is far from unique. How unique, though, is a mystery. Transgender visibility is increasing in Australia too, but now for only the second time in history there is an opportunity to count just how many transgender people there are in the population. That count is sorely needed. The Australian Bureau of Statistics is currently reviewing how it might expand its categorisation beyond male and female in next year’s national census. Currently, it is estimated that 0.3% of the Australian population is transgender. This figure is lifted from a 2011 American study that cobbles together figures from three older health surveys: a Californian tobacco survey done in 2004 and two Massachusetts’ health surveys completed in 2007 and 2009. There’s also a 2009 UK study that estimates 0.3% and an older Scottish one that estimates about 0.1%. Analysis across each of these surveys goes to great pains to underline just how limited the data is, how narrow their definition of transgender is, and how difficult it is to come up with an even relatively loose figure. In 2011 India conducted its 15th once-in-a-decade national census. For the first time in history they included a third “other” gender category. In a country of 1.22 billion people, 488,000 citizens identified themselves as being neither male nor female, but a third in-between sex: something equivalent to the western identity of transgender. But there were problems. Due to low literacy rates, Indian censuses are done by interview. This means that participants have to openly disclose their gender to a government official despite the common threat of discrimination and violence against third gender people. At the time of the 2011 census India had no formal recognition of the rights of the third gender either; it wasn’t until 2014 that the high court granted equivalent rights and protections as the rest of the Indian population. Not surprising, the numbers were low. In a country of over a billion people just under half a million identified as third sex, including 55,000 children under seven. At 0.039% of population, this is roughly a 10th of the US approximation of 0.3% The Indian census, though groundbreaking, doesn’t really help to give a better estimate of transgender numbers in Australia. If the same figure of 0.039% were applicable here it would mean that there are fewer than 7,000 transgender people, and only 760 transgender children: a figure that does not line up with the anecdotal experience of Australian front line service providers. The other important thing to note is that since the 2011 study and 2011 Indian Census there has been a spike in the number of children under 16 identifying as transgender. Neither the Californian nor the Massachusetts surveys, which form the basis of the 0.3% figure, includes anyone under the age of 18. The Indian census, despite a backdrop of discrimination and shame, still miraculously delivers the extraordinary figure of 55,000 third gender children and all under the age of seven: a total of 11% of the number of identified third sex people in India. Perhaps the most informative research done to date is the 2012 New Zealand Youth ’12 survey. Of 8,500 participating year 12 students, 102 identified as transgender, and another 212 as not sure. This means that even at the more conservative end of the estimate, 1.2% of late high school students identify as transgender in New Zealand and 3.7% see their gender as being outside of the usual gender binary of male and female. This is remarkable and if it were at all translatable to Australia it would mean that instead of the current projection of approximately 69,000 transgender people there may instead be between 277,000 and 855,000. This of course is entirely speculation. But that transgender people are one of the most socially disadvantaged groups in Australia and the world is not. Suicide rates are shamefully high, violence and homelessness are common place, and discrimination is a continuing problem. Real numbers would give a sense of the size of the challenge and the solutions needed. Celebrity transitions like Jenner’s are a powerful spotlight on the transgender experience, increasing public acceptance and tolerance. But inclusion in a national census would go a long way to leading the transgender community out of the shadows for good. |