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Transgender woman finds a niche in tailoring

Transgender woman finds a niche in tailoring

Jiya set up her shop ahead of the busy Ramazan tailoring season.
13 Apr, 2021

As Pakistani transgender woman Jiya measures customers at her tailoring shop in a brand new Karachi market, her eyes gleam with the prospect of a busy Ramazan season and her ambitions to expand.

Already, Jiya, 35, who goes by a single name like many trans people in Pakistan, has broken ground by opening a public shop to make clothes for women and transgender women.

Other trans people running tailoring businesses have tended to do so out of their homes, wary of ostracism in a country with many conservative Muslims.

Many landlords were reluctant to give a shop to a transgender woman, Jiya told Reuters at The Stitch Shop in the southern port city. She finally secured one in a new market, which she opened with two other trans women in March in time for the start of Ramazan in mid-April.

The Islamic holy fasting month is traditionally a busy period for tailors as people buy new clothes to mark the Eid al-Fitr festival that ends Ramazan.

Photo: Reuters
Photo: Reuters

For Jiya, who studied at an all-boys’ school and learned tailoring with the help of her fellow transgender women, opening her shop marks the start of her ambition.

“We want to expand this business. We want a boutique with Eastern and Western designs, all types of dresses,” she said.

Many of her customers are women, who said they preferred a transgender woman to make their clothes, a change from most other tailoring shops run by men.

“I felt comfortable while she took my measurements,” customer Farzana Zahid said.

Photo: Reuters
Photo: Reuters

Pakistan’s parliament recognised the third gender in 2018, giving such individuals fundamental rights such as the ability to vote and choose their gender on official documents.

A 2017 census recorded about 10,000 transgender people, although trans rights groups say the number could be well over 300,000 in the country of 220 million.

Comments

Real issue Apr 13, 2021 10:43am
' Well DONE' Lot's of support and respects!!!
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Last Comment Apr 13, 2021 10:59am
Great!
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jaredlee007 Apr 13, 2021 11:27am
Excellent initiative. But it is the police who will ridicule Jiya and the mullahs who will harass Jiya.
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Hamed Apr 13, 2021 11:46am
Yes you can! Good idea.
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Browngirl Apr 13, 2021 11:56am
Pakistani women should support this and buy clothes from transgender tailors - hopefully also as cool fashion designers in the short future.
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Chrís Dăn Apr 13, 2021 01:21pm
Calling them trans-genders is a discrimination. They are just human beings with she/he prefix in 21st century. So why to call them transgenders?
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Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad Apr 13, 2021 01:42pm
United we stand, divided we fall.
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Nk Apr 13, 2021 08:08pm
Nothing new. The transgender community have been in tailoring business all over Pakistan for decades. My mother has know one in Karachi for at least last 50 years.
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