Global survey finds that 80% of women think that trans women should have equal rights

30th September 2018

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The survey was taken across five different continents.

A global survey performed by the Thomas Reuter Foundation was found that 80% of women worldwide believe that trans women should have equal rights. The survey asked 1,000 women, and was taken in Cairo, London, Mexico City, New York and Tokyo.

Out of those 1,000 women, 798 answered that they should have equal rights, and only 37 said that they shouldn’t. The rest of the women declined to answer.

Mexico City showed the highest levels of support, with 89% of the women asked there saying that trans women should have equal rights. In both London and New York, 87% answered that they should, and 75% of those asked in Tokyo also said yes.

The most surprising result came from Cairo, where 62% of women said that they should. However, a large proportion of women answered that they didn’t know what a trans woman was. There are no LGBTQ rights in Egypt, with men still being jailed for engaging in homosexual acts, and a 2013 survey found that 95% of Egyptians didn’t think that homosexuality should be accepted by society.

Lobna Darwich, from the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, was shocked by the result from Cairo, saying: “I’m very surprised by the poll, happily surprised, as there is a lot of ignorance around transgender issues.”

Kyle Knight, an LGBTQ rights expert at the Human Rights Watch also praised the high level of support in Tokyo. In Japan, a trans woman needs to be sterilised and have a diagnosis of gender identity disorder before they are allowed to transition. They also aren’t allowed to transition if they’re married or have children who are minors.

“There’s a huge tide turning in Japan,” Knight said. “These survey results are super encouraging. It’s yet another signal to the government that it’s time to change this absurd law.”

Gillian Branstetter from the National Center for Transgender Equality in America praised the results, but added: “We’ve come very far, but we have very far to go.”