KARACHI: As transgender woman Jiya measures customers at her tailoring shop in a brand new Karachi market, her eyes gleam with the prospect of a busy Ramadan season and her ambitions to expand. Many landlords were reluctant to give a shop to a transgender woman, Jiya told Reuters at The Stitch Shop in Karachi. 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. 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. A 2017 census recorded about 10,000 transgender people, although trans rights groups say the number could be well over 300,000.

Source: Pakistan Today April 12, 2021 07:52 UTC