Social Exclusion of Aged Transgender in Pakistan: A Case Study of District Rawalpindi

Ageism is known as discrimination and stereotyping against aged person. Transgender person is considered as neither male or female or a combination of both male and female. Transgender population being marginalized community in Pakistan have to face multiple problems (i.e. economic, psychological and health) with the increase in age. In this vein, the current study was conducted to explore the socio-economic and health conditions of aged transgender in the Rawalpindi district of Punjab province. Specifically, this study aimed to assess the extent of this population’ access to basic human rights such as health, food, shelter, cloth and sanitation. Least research has been done in Pakistan in this regard. Therefore, Case studies method was used for data collection. A sample of 9 aged transgender with age above 50 years was selected through snowball sampling technique. The result indicates that usually aged transgenders were living extreme alarming situation. Finding indicates that most of the older transgender profession was beggary and 55.6% (n=5) of the transgender fall into the category of low income. Most of the transgender health status was unpleasant due to lack of devotion. Likewise, 89.9 % (n=8) transgender lived in rented house and paid double fair because people stigmatized them questionable profession like dancing and sex work. The study has also shown that all aged transgender have imbalance diet, poor condition of seasonal clothes and sanitation system because they lived in the side areas of the city due to gender non-conforming. The study suggests further work on aged transgender people and mainstreaming them in the sociological, anthropological and human rights context.