Welcoming equality, TISS soon to incorporate gender neutral hostels

Mumbai, April 7: Attaining to give equal status to everyone, the Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS) will have a gender-neutral hostel. Students were informed through a notification that the ground floor of hostel no 4, will now be allocated to self-identified transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming persons.

 

TISS administration confirmed that the decision was taken in line with “the principle of inclusion and affirmation of gender diversity”. Through an email, the students were informed that the self-identified transgender, nonbinary, gender non-conforming students can apply for the rooms.

The space will be a part of hostel IV which will continue to remain a girls-only hostel. Rooms shall be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

“This is in conformity with what we believe in: inclusion. We have been having some students with a non-conforming identity since the last few years, but the hostels have always been divided between male and female students,” said PK Shajahan, Dean of Student Affairs, TISS.

Shajahan said that to start with 20 seats will be provided, and depending upon the requirement, it will be decided whether the number should be increased. The decision has been welcomed by the TISS Queer Collective which stated that it managed to obtain a notification after a struggle of more than a year.

“We started campaigning for this last year and discussed the need for gender-neutral spaces inside campuses. Inclusion has to go beyond policy and it has to manifest itself in infrastructure,” said Sai Bourothu, a member of TISS Queer Collective. She said that the focus is on institutionalising the said measure, and make it a part of the institution’s fabric.

The collective believes that the move is hugely significant legally as it has been drafted in tandem with various laws in existence.