Bangladesh has made its first step towards providing equality to all gender, with Tasnuva Anan Shishir becoming Bangladesh's first transgender news anchor, as she presented the news on a private television channel on the occasion of International Women's Day on Monday. Tashnuva Anan is a rights activist who was previously engaged with NGOs in support of transgender people and is now the country's first trans news anchor.
"Tashnuva Anan Shishir will start her career in news at Boishakhi TV from March 8, International Women’s Day," the channel said in a statement. The channel came up with this initiative not to only mark International Women’s Day but also to celebrate the country’s 50 years of independence that falls on March 26.
Shishir has recently earned her scholarships in two categories to pursue higher studies in the Master of Public Health (MPH) programme at the James P Grant School of Public Health (JPGSPH), from a country's private university along with Ho Chi Minh Islam, another iconic transgender woman in the country.
Quoting Anan, 29, Reuters wrote, "This could be revolutionary and create a new dimension in people's thinking.”
Anan underwent intense training at a private news network before she was offered this job.
Anan believes this is a great achievement as she succeeded in breaking the gender discrimination in the year of the golden jubilee of Independence. "The biggest problem is that people are not sensitized ... I hope this can do that, and urge them to look after the many 'Tashnuvas' around them," she added.
The channel has also appointed another transgender woman in the entertainment department, who had started playing her role in a TV serial named 'Chapabaz'.
According to government estimates, there are about 11,500 transgender people in Bangladesh, but LGBTQIA+ campaigners claim that the figure is expected to be at least 100,000, given Bangladesh’s population of 160 million.
While growing up, I sexually exploited and "bullied and tortured'', claimed Anan and left home at the age of 16.
She adds that it is unusual for transgender people to take jobs in the country.
Anan says she intends to continue fighting for people's lives. "I'll always try to work for the transgender community ... so they don't drop out (of school) and don't leave their families," she said.
Speaking on starting a job as a news anchor, Anan said she was overwhelmed. "I cannot express how overwhelming this is, for myself and my community. Individuals from my community have been bullied and harassed for long, and only exposure like this can help create room for the development of our people in the society," she said.
Anan said she has a dream of building a team with aspiring dancers, actors and media personalities from the transgender community to create awareness about the difficulties they face in day to day life.
"I want to help these individuals build sustainable livelihoods. We need to prioritise people's capabilities over their gender identities," she added.