Uncounted in India— The Other Side of the Census
New America Media, Commentary, Sandip Roy, Posted: Apr 02, 2011
http://newamericamedia.org/2011/04/uncounted-in-india-the-other-side-of-the-cens.phpKOLKATA, India—There are 1, 210,193,422 people in India. But I am not one of them.
[...]
Census enumerators have to be trained to be sensitive. The transgender community must be helped to understand that the headcount isn't some government roundup. Non-governmental organizations that work with sexual minorities have assisted with the effort, but Ghosh's colleague Purnendu Banerjee, India's deputy registrar general, said sometimes even that is not enough to ensure they are getting the correct data. The person answering the questions might be the head of the household. He might identify someone as his son. But the son might actually consider herself a woman.
The census enumerator at our house did not ask my family about gender identity. He filled in those boxes himself.
