TISS offering gender-neutral hostel to students gives a fillip to inclusivity

In what is probably the first such instance in India, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, will offer gender-neutral accommodation to its students from the coming academic year.

According to a notification issued on April 5, the ground floor of an existing girls’ hostel has been marked as a gender-neutral space, where MA students who identify as transgender, non-binary or gender non-conforming can stay.

This is important in many ways. Any public space that seeks to be inclusive needs to factor in that not every individual conforms to gender binaries, and should not be forced into situations and facilities tailor-made for two genders.  

The TISS hostel will not only mean a more comfortable living space for such students, but the fact that specific arrangements have been made for them sends out the message that the institute recognises their existence and accepts they deserve equal treatment. Ideally, this should be the bare minimum. But for India, and indeed for large parts of the world, this is a big step.

Scientific research exists to show that sex and gender are different things – sex refers to the organs one is born with, gender is a social construct of traits and behaviour. Ideally, it should be left to individuals to decide what labels they wish to be identified by, and if indeed they wish to conform to any label.

But that is very far from practice. A lot of people still fail to understand the concept of gender being a spectrum, and categorise the world in three groups – men, women, and the loose, vague “others”.

Institutionalised recognition, from a reputable institution like TISS, can do much to increase awareness about the matter.

It is grossly unfair to have to constantly explain your existence to others, or go through life mislabeled and misunderstood. Hostels, a collection of young people with no previous bonds spending a lot of time together, are not the kindliest of places for anyone.

In such spaces, those perceived as “different” are easy target for “jokes”, mocking, bullying, and worse.   

As Christopher Nag, an MPhil student from TISS told The Indian Express: “Misgendering, particularly in educational institutes, takes a toll on everyone. For instance, sharing a room with a heterosexual man who passes homophobic and transphobic comments takes a toll and is very uncomfortable. This hostel is the first step towards gender inclusivity.”

Gender-queer representation in educational institutes in India continues to be abjectly poor. Not allowing a person to embrace their gender identity denies them self-expression that is essential to a fulfilling life. No country that seeks to stand for equality, justice and the right of every human to a life of dignity should allow this.

Visibility is the first step towards the right to self-assertion, and towards larger acceptance by society. But the struggle to make themselves visible and have their voices heard should not be left to those gender-queer. The community should not have to fight for its space, the society should give it its due. The TISS initiative is a step in that direction.    

Even in “woke” circles, discussions on gender and sexual non-conformity are largely academic. But to bring about inclusivity, these concepts need to move beyond conversations and turn into policy.

A possible criticism for the TISS move is that carving out separate spaces can lead to ghettoisation, and can be turned into a “yellow star” of identity recognition, thus furthering victimisation.

But the college seems to have guarded well against it – the accommodation is not specifically for gender-queer people, but is conceived as a gender neutral space. Also, the identities are to be entirely self-identified.

The email sent out by the institute to students reads: “Self-identified transgender, nonbinary, gender non-conforming students can apply for the rooms.”

TISS is also among the few institutions that allow students to choose their gender-denoting titles. In February this year, it gave people the option of adding the prefix “Mx” to their names, apart from Mr, Ms, Mrs and Dr, on their degree certificates.

Earlier, in 2015, NALSAR University of Law in Hyderabad had given its students the same option.

Terms like “gender non-conforming”, “non-binary” are part of the vocabulary of a very limited section of the population in India. Once again, it is not the responsibility of these communities to educate others about their existence. The society and institutions need to make proactive efforts to create awareness and provide acceptance to them.

An initiative like the one by TISS will, hopefully, not just make life easier for students but also increase awareness about the issue on a wider scale by creating a dialogue.   

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