An Indian government agency has produced a video to protect and support its transgender employees working for their transit company.
Kerala Information – the public relations department of Kerala, India – published the video as a way to educate the public about discrimination and to welcome new employees at the Kochi Metro.
In the video, Kerala Information highlights several transgender women who are new hires at Kochi Metro to spread awareness about discrimination within the workplace. The women in the video let everyone know they are capable of doing the same jobs as anyone else and demand the same respect as any other employee.
Kochi Metro, a transportation company in Kerala, recently hired 23 transgender women who will work at a new Kochi Metro station to perform various jobs including selling tickets and housekeeping.
“We would like to give members of the transgender community their rightful share in different jobs at stations. There will be no discrimination between them and women workers,” said managing director of Kochi Metro Rail Elias George to The Hindu in May.
Kochi Metro’s recent recruits are part of Kerala’s Kudumbashree state program that was created to empower women and provide employment opportunities.
Kochi Metro is the first government agency to hire transgender people and George hopes other agencies follow suit and offer members of the transgender community opportunities to work.
“The metro agency is the first government-owned company in India to formally appoint them. I hope other firms in Kerala give them a respectable opportunity to work. Society’s mindset towards them will change only by direct interaction with them,” George added.
The 30-second video and the message behind it have been received well. It was posted on June 16 and has over 1.3 million views and 28,000 shares since then.
Although the video was created specifically for the new Kochi Metro and their transgender employees, the message is universal and can be used and applied to any workplace environment that supports diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
