Student Projects - Work Life of a Transman

Parami Institute Of Continuing Education

The Worklife of a Transman in the three-wheel Taxi Industry in Myanmar ( Mandalay Case Study)

Aye Aye Thaw, Shwe Yi Phwe

This project was developed based on the interview with a transman working in the three-wheel taxi service industry in Mandalay. As one of the project team members had experienced oppression and discrimination for being a part of the LGBTQ+ community, the project focused on these issues which were a lifelong process happening in daily life even within the family and friends. So it was decided to conduct the interview with the transman in the taxi service industry. The project team learnt that the interviewee used to work in the hotel industry, but he quit that field and started working as a three-wheel taxi driver due to the pandemic and restrictions in his previous job. The report covered his daily challenges and relationship with his coworkers, for instance, how they treated him, how he dealt with verbal assault/abuse by his fellow taxi driver, and how his other coworkers reacted to those incidents due to his identity. Moreover, it was included interesting information tackling on how LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ corporate warmly and harmoniously with each other in the community. The purpose of this project was to explore his challenges in the workplace, his relationship with coworkers and customers, also the impacts on his career because of his identity as a transman. Through this project, the project team members became more knowledgeable and had a deeper understanding about the experience of a transman in a workplace, then the report was aimed to promote awareness about diversity and inclusion in the community influenced by Myanmar traditional norms. The report concluded with the interviewee’s point of views toward the Myanmar LGBTQ+ community.

The Work life of a Transman in the three-wheel Taxi Service Industry in Myanmar (Mandalay Case Study)

Introduction

When it comes to “Diversity”, it is about differences which are to be respected and valued when inclusion comes along with it. Diversity covers age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, disability, and sexual orientation. There are factors like beliefs, norms and cultures which control the people whether to embrace diversity or not. In a conservative country like Myanmar, the influence of traditional norms and religious beliefs play a big role in shaping the mindset of the people. Some of the country’s customs and rules do not tolerate diversity and inclusion. That is why there are many groups of people who are being discriminated against and excluded from the society especially LGBTQ+ population.

As this project was from the perspective of gender identity in a workplace, the project team wanted to highlight the public acknowledgement on the LGBTQ+ people. Since the wide access to internet of Myanmar in 2014, the society has been gradually familiar with the LGBTQ+ culture and tends to accept it, with the support of NGOs and activists educating the public on the human rights of LGBTQ+ community (Skylar, 2021). Yet, it cannot be denied that there are big issues of discrimination still happening at different levels in the society such as individually, among peers, within families, in the workplaces and even at the policy. Therefore, the project team decided to escalate this kind of issue by exploring the working life of a transman in the three-wheel taxi service industry in Mandalay as a case study.

Project Background

The project team learnt that the interviewee used to work in the hotel industry, but he quit that field and started working as a three-wheel taxi driver due to the pandemic and restrictions in his previous job. The report covered his daily challenges and relationship with his coworkers, for instance, how they treated him, how he dealt with verbal assault/abuse by his fellow taxi driver, and how his other coworkers reacted to those incidents due to his identity. Moreover, it was included interesting information tackling on how LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ corporate warmly and harmoniously with each other in the community. The purpose of this project was to explore his challenges in the workplace, his relationship with coworkers and customers, also the impacts on his career because of his identity as a transman. Through this project, the project team members became more knowledgeable and had a deeper understanding about the experience of a transman in a workplace. And then the report was aimed to promote awareness about diversity and inclusion in the community influenced by Myanmar traditional norms. The report concluded with the interviewee’s point of views toward the Myanmar LGBTQ+ community.

In order to approach the guiding questions, the project team did some research about the updated news and incidents related to the LGBTQ+ community, especially in workplaces. Throughout this course, the project team learnt about “The Vicissitudes of Cultural Competence: Dealing with Difficult Classroom Dialogue'', especially the parts that explained how to approach difficult and sensitive topics, such as gender and culture, and how to train oneself to have successful outcomes in dialogues. It was very effective to apply them in developing the guiding questions and it was made sure these questions not to be out of topic. The questions were consciously prepared from different points of view with the guidance of the lecturer and carried out the interview. The verbal consent was obtained from the interviewee for this research. The project team were more careful with asking the questions to the interviewee not to make him uncomfortable but to feel welcome in the process of the interview. Also, the important part of this project was to be mindful about approaching the sensitive topics relating to the interviewee’s personal experiences based on his gender identity at his workplace. The interview was conducted by applying the active listening skills learned from the course. In the interviewing process, the project team could not only sympathize but also empathize with him. In some cases, one of the members who came from the same community could even relate to these kinds of discrimination and oppression. Overall, the interview wisely proceeded with the knowledge received from the lectures and it was quite breathtaking to smoothly conduct this process.

Findings

In the interview with the interviewee, the project team found out that he faced verbal abuse, oppression and discrimination by some of his customers and coworkers before. However, other coworkers defended him, when they witnessed such mistreatment in the workplace. The project team had them linked with what was learnt in this course, “Five Faces of Oppression.

The interviewee mentioned that some customers did not want to rent him sometimes, if they found out his identity. They either wanted a man or a woman driver and he felt like it was because people saw him as in between and some did not even want to make any communication with him. Also, he mentioned there was mild oppression among his coworkers. They always put him in the last place to take customers orderly. Beside these issues, there was a big argument between the interviewee and his coworker due to a misunderstanding about taking his coworker’s customer instead of having the customers assigned for each driver. He yelled at him that he could attack him with just a strike because he was a woman and being a woman was weak. His behavior and words obviously showed that he neither respected nor accepted him as who he was. In that case, the project team could link these situations with the learning points from “Five Faces of Oppression”, mainly the marginalization and powerlessness. In the book, the author, Iris Young mentioned marginalization was the most dangerous form of oppression among the five faces of oppression because a whole category of useful participation was totally neglected and expelled from social life. In his case, he was not totally expelled by some of his coworkers but he was put behind everyone else. It could be said that this was a new form of expelling oppression in his community. Though he had a right not to be treated that way, he just had to deal with these issues by ignoring them. There was no option for him to speak up and raise these issues for further action to have equal treatment and respect. These were some of the experiences that he faced as a person from the marginalized and underprivileged community. He was powerless compared to them as they all were from dominant groups and he was from a marginalized group. However, it was not toxic all the time in his workplace. He said that there were other coworkers who helped him not to be attacked verbally regarding his identity in arguments. They also looked out for his safety when he took long distance trips to the outskirts of Mandalay. Sometimes, they kept him company on those trips. It could be seen that his coworkers were open-minded and considerate of him by standing on the same side as him.

“There is some discrimination in taking customers orderly by leaving me behind and skipping my serial number. Some customers and coworkers verbally attack me regarding my identity in the arguments. Despite having such negativity around, there are other coworkers who help me make sure to defend from my side in quarreling. They also protect my safety by checking the order routes and the behavior of the customers.”

It was found out that he worked in such a good working environment with the support from his coworkers despite facing discrimination from some people. The job of three-wheel taxi driver as a transman was not very safe but the care from his coworkers made him feel supported and endured to build his career in that industry. From his point of view, the reason that he was treated with respect from his coworkers was that he behaved politely and spoke honestly with them. Also he shared his thoughts and feelings openly, which in turn builds trust among them and mutual understanding regardless of his identity. From this response, the project team learnt that he was working hard to get a decent job by proving his good behavior to his coworkers as an approach to adapt well in the workplace.

“It is because of the way I act and behave around them. I always speak honestly and openly out loud my thoughts/feelings with them.

I request them to act and speak openly around me like with any other men. I told them to see me as a man too.”

The project team also asked him relating to the effectiveness of the LGBTQ+ events and activities on today’s changes of the way the people see and act towards the LGBTQ+ community. He responded that he was aware of different campaigns and movements like pride month and celebrating LGBTQ+ international days virtually or in person. He agreed that it led to a certain positive change of the public’s view on queer community. As these activities raised the awareness and knowledge on LGBTQ+ rights and shared the voice of queer community, it could open the eyes of the public for better understanding and less discrimination and oppression on queer community.

“Now people become open-minded because of those activities/movements/events and have a better understanding towards LGBTQ+,

accepting that we all deserve to be treated equally and respectfully. So, it is easier for me to live openly in our society as a transman.”

On this point, it can be said that the momentum of these awareness campaigns have been reduced significantly due to the current situation of the country and more restrictions on any social movements. Moreover, it is still a long way to create an inclusive society for all of the marginalized communities because some findings have been discovered from the report called The Next Generation Research. It was a nationwide survey related to youth’s voice in which it mentioned that youth were less likely to be friends with LGBTQ+ people (see Fig-1).

Fig-1. Acceptance of Friends from Specific Groups in Myanmar, 2019. Graph from The Next Generation Research Report by British Council & Voluntary Service Overseas(VSO)

In addition, the project team also learnt that youth were ashamed to be LGBTQ+ and prefer to hide their identities according to the following figure of LGBTQ+ acceptance of youth (see Fig-2). From this point, it was considered that religious beliefs could be one of the big root causes of people’s acceptance. So, awareness campaigns/movements are still needed to promote more with different approaches to reach the wider public and cover more areas of the country.

Fig-2: LGBTQ+ Acceptance in Myanmar, 2019, Graph from The Next Generation Research Report by British Council & Voluntary Service Overseas(VSO)

Action Plans

Through this amazing opportunity of interviewing with the interviewee, the project team learnt and discovered a lot regarding the context of LGBTQ+ community matching with the learning objectives like “Embracing Diversity, Five Faces of Oppression and The Vicissitudes of Cultural Competence: Dealing with Difficult Classroom Dialogue.” It was really encouraging to know that there was a positive working environment for the LGBTQ+ community from having this interview. Based on his responses to the questions on his experiences and challenges as a transman, it could be observed that his workplace was filled with more positivity than the negative effects on him. From his point of view, he experienced such a positive workplace due to the increasing awareness campaigns and movements regarding the LGBTQ+ community. This response led the project team to have action plans with the following two different level approaches.

A micro level: by listening to his story and earning from his harmonious working environment, this report can drive the individual to get inspired and treat people with kindness and respect. Then, they can share this story to their respective families and friends who will be educated about the diverse and inclusive workplace.

A mezzo level: by raising awareness and educating the groups and communities in the society through social media platforms. Nowadays, people of all ages are familiar with social media because of the political situation in Myanmar and the pandemic. Hence, two actions plans as social media movements will be conducted on a mezzo level as below.

To advocate the people about the life stories and the challenges of the LGBTQ+ community, the project team will connect with Yin Khone Than (HeartbeatsMyanmar) podcast channel which is a platform to present the feelings, opinions, the unheard voices of the oppressed community, and discuss a variety of social issues. As this real life story to that channel is added, it will reach to its audience, firstly LGBTQ+ community and the rest.
The team also thought of going to a wider audience, the general public. In the virtual guest speaker session of Parami University which is open to the public, the team can introduce this project and have a sharing session with the participants. In this approach, a broader audience can be reached and also from Q&A session with the participants, it will be colorful with more insights and further discussion/action plans based on the products of the project. Furthermore, if the project can grab a chance to be published on the Parami website and Parami Facebook page, it will be helpful to implement the above the sharing session, also the students of the Parami University can read and take references for their projects about addressing the social issues.

By carrying out them, the public will get to know and be inspired about this kind of support within workplaces that exists in the community which is what the team wants to spread about.

Challenges

During the process of conducting this project, there were challenges the team faced though. The team did not have a hard time to select the interviewee for the topic. The interviewee was a close friend of one of the team members, so it was advantageous for the team to save time and he was quite flexible when approaching the team’s request to interview. But the challenges started when the team developed the guiding questions since some were out of topic and also started to concern if the interviewee was the right person for the project topic. But with the guidance of the lecturer, the questions were edited into more concrete and suitable for both the project and the interviewee. From that challenge, the team reflected that they should do more research on questionnaires and format to be on the right track, and also needed to have a back-up plan like reserving another interviewee in case of any unexpected changes happen.

Also, it was challenging for the team to figure out concrete action plans. The team prioritized it to be in their capability to implement and to be realistic with visible outcomes. So, the plans mentioned in this report were within the limit to educate certain groups of people and to be a part of initiating a positive social change in the community. Since these action plans were in a small scope, it was concerned that these plans would not have a big impact on society. However, considering the current political crisis and pandemic, the project team felt satisfied that this project drove them to see different points of views and let them get through the wonderful learning process. Also there would be a chance to bring it to the class and the team believed that the classmates got to learn something positive from the project.

Conclusion

Based on the findings and learning points from this project, it is aimed to share this interesting story of him to the broader audience to highlight that having support from non-LGBTQ+ coworkers to LGBTQ+ people, can create a positive and inclusive workplace. During this uncertain situation, it would be encouraging for the people to get at least this optimistic view from the marginalized community. The industry of the three-wheel taxi service has not been ruled by policies or guidelines of equality and inclusion, yet this small community of workplace has no intention of discrimination and maltreatment. For the healthy society that values LGBTQ+ rights will be the absolute ideal world for the future. The project team really wants to encourage the community to be inclusive and embracing diversity like the story of the transman’s workplace where he is respected and included like any other cisgender and heterosexual. This is definitely what is essential in society nowadays because there is so much negativity going around in the country. Also, the momentum of LGBTQ+ campaigns and movements has been slowing down and staying low profile because of the current situation. Thus, it is believed that these small action plans of awareness raising activities can help and support the queer community that have been experiencing direct or indirect discrimination and oppression either in the workplace, school or community. Beyond these action plans, there are also some recommendations not only to strengthen this project but also to create a more inclusive society with the support of organizations at the country level.

Recommendations

Firstly, this project was only based on one person’s experiences but limited to cover for the whole three-wheel service industry in Mandalay. So, in order to have a more comprehensive research, the follow-up interview process with his coworkers with an extended timeline to bring better quality outcomes is recommended. The project team is willing to explore more from the side of his coworkers on how they see him and why they treat him with respect and dignity. Then, the team can get a chance to dig up some underground roots and reasons for a transman experiencing such positive support in this man-dominating workplace. It will be a valuable insight to get the views of non-LGBTQ+ on inclusive and diverse working environments.

Another recommendation the team would like to come up with is, creating LGBTQ+ taxi service groups which is referenced from the article, “Mumbai Launches India’s First LGBT Taxi Service''. By creating the LGBTQ+ workplaces, they will have an opportunity to get a proper job with a vocational training to start a concrete lifestyle for them. Moreover, if they encounter any physical and verbal abuse while working, there is a group to support and back them up with. Also they will be recognised respectfully and accepted in the society because of having a decent job.

As a final, the legal support to LGBTQ+ people is essential to have their voices heard and take action on any type of abuse they experience. Having the proper reporting channel with the responsible person’s contact also plays a critical role for them to reach out accordingly for any issue. Hence, the marginalized category of the society will feel stronger and stand for themselves with an opportunity to speak up instead of enduring and ignoring the verbal and mental abuse to them. While the countries’ laws are weak, following the collapsing infrastructure, and being against the queer community, every single support of CSOs/NGOs from a legal perspective is in need for the underrepresented community.

References

Asumah and Nagel (2014), Diversity, Social Justice, and Inclusive Excellence Transdisciplinary and Global Perspectives, State University of New York Press
Yu Sheng Teo (2021), What is a Trans Man?, Heckin’ Unicorn

https://heckinunicorn.com/blogs/heckin-unicorn-blog/