Sheree Sartain
WVoN co-editor

Violence against women (VAW) is one of the root causes of inequality and discrimination against women throughout the world.

For women aged 15-44 years, violence is still the major cause of death according to the United Nations (UN).

It is at the forefront of women’s rights campaigns and is recognised across the globe by governments and the UN as a barrier to ending gender discrimination.

But as we mark the centenary of International Women’s Day, one group remain invisible within the violence against women debate – transsexual women.

According to ‘Transrespect Versus Transphobia Worldwide’ (TVT) a research project investigating trans murder, nearly 500 transsexuals worldwide have been murdered since January 2008.

Transsexual women – people transitioning from male to female – experience extraordinarily high levels of violence and abuse and although very little research has been conducted, a small study from Scotland suggests that 80 per cent of transsexuals have experienced domestic violence.

This means that transsexuals experience more domestic abuse than any other section of society.

Joanna, a trans woman who is part of Swans of Scotland, a support group for Trans people in the north of Scotland said, “trans women do get abused both by partners and others. Abuse can be verbal or physical and can lead to a loss of self esteem.”

“In some cases abuse can also include sexual violence and blackmail.”

“We have a trans woman whose ex-wife assaulted her on learning that she had gender dysphoria. At present we do not have places of refuge for trans people experiencing domestic abuse.”

It is clear that males transitioning to female experience more discrimination than females transitioning to male and this perhaps reflects the more general and widespread sexism in society.

Men – transsexual or not are valued more highly than women – and it seems that transsexual women are perceived as striking a double blow to masculinity by choosing to be women and thus openly rejecting masculinity.

Sadly, women – transsexual or otherwise – are not always on the same page when it comes to the joint issues facing them.

There are close links between the issues faced by women in both feminist and transgender politics – such as VAW and workplace segregation – but despite this transsexual women have yet to see their experiences reflected in mainstream VAW policies.

That is not to say that transsexual women should be subsumed into the feminist agenda anymore than they should be into lesbian, gay, bisexual and Trans (LGBT) equality campaigns.

Indeed, there must be more recognition of the distinctive issues faced by all of these groups but we should not miss opportunities of  working together to combat the violence that affects us all.

Developing bonds between trans and feminist anti-violence politics could be productive for both causes.

Joanna said “Many members of the trans community are now recognising the shared interests of trans and genetic women and some are taking on feminist ideals but sometimes genetic women are not always ready to accept trans women”.

A quick search of UK VAW websites showed that they do not see violence against trans women as part of their remit and not one of them referred to it.

Similarly, violence specifically against transsexual women is lost within the general debate about transphobia.

Somewhere transsexual women are being lost between the equality and anti-violence campaigns of women and LGBT groups.

Transphobic violence, particularly violence against trans women, must be addressed as a specific area of concern as well as part of the wider feminist and LGBT equality debate.

Last year the UK government made the first tentative steps toward recognising the distinctive issues faced by transsexuals when it promised the first ‘Action Plan for Trangender Equality’ to be produced sometime this year, but how far this will address the issues faced specifically by trans  women has yet to be seen.

As a woman I know that the violence experienced by transsexual women has as much to do with their femininity as it does for other women. Violence against all women – transsexual or otherwise – must be eradicated before the equality agenda can move on.