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The Economist-20200801 期「China」Transgender justice: Evolving rights
02 中文導讀 當當網變性員工以曠工緣由被解僱一案，讓「跨性別」議題暴露在聚光燈下。China Transgender justice: Evolving rights
A trans woman wins a controversial discrimination case
IN MANY WAYS, Gao Moumou was lucky. She had a good job as a product director in Beijing for Dangdang, an e-commerce firm, which allowed her to save enough money for her gender-reassignment surgery. Her office gave her time off to recover, but on September 6th, 2018, less than three months after her surgery, Dangdang fired Ms Gao, citing her 「continuous absenteeism」. Ms Gao thinks the real reason was transphobia. In January this year a court in Beijing surprised many by agreeing with her. It ordered Dangdang to reinstate Ms Gao’s contract and pay her overdue wages. The news circulated online in July, and generated 380m views on Weibo, a microblog. Ms Gao is the first transgender person to win a job-discrimination case in China.
Gay and transgender people are not protected from discrimination in Chinese employment law, but sex discrimination is illegal. People who have legally changed their gender can bring a claim on that basis. The burden of evidence is high. Ms Gao had a 「smoking-gun」 proof of discrimination, says Darius Longarino of Yale Law School. Dangdang referred to her as 「Mr」 in a termination letter and called her 「mentally ill」. The company said that other colleagues were uncomfortable working with her. (劃線翻譯)But because she had legally changed her gender to female, Dangdang was obliged to treat her the same as other female colleagues, the court said.
>> smoking gun：字面意思是「還在冒煙的槍」，被引申為「incontrovertible incrimination』』（無可辯駁的指控）、「hard evidence」（確鑿的證據）、「conclusive evidence」（決定性證據），即中文語境中的鐵證/unshakable proof、「實錘」。Smoking gun源起於福爾摩斯探案的系列故事，在1893年發表的《榮蘇號》(The Gloria Scott)篇中首次出現。在講述一艘監獄船上發生的謀殺案時，柯南·道爾寫道，在死去的船長身旁，一個假牧師手裡捏著一把冒煙的槍，這一幕被認為是牧師殺人的確鑿證據。如今，smoking gun已成為形容證據確鑿時常用的代名詞。It was not just the verdict that was surprising. The court also called for 「tolerance」 and said society must 「respect and protect the personality, dignity and legitimate rights of transgender people」. An online poll of 330,000 people found that 81% viewed the court’s decision positively. But that is 「not what most people in China think」, says Alex, who works for an LGBT organisation in Beijing. Chinese society is conservative when it comes to gender roles. Homosexuality was officially classified as a mental illness until 2001, and 「transsexualism」 still is.
Though there are still few legal protections, being gay is now much more accepted in Chinese cities. But being trans is still difficult, not least because of the many requirements for changing your legal gender, one of which is undergoing full reassignment surgery. That can cost 100,000 yuan ($14,200). A person must also notify—and effectively seek permission from—their family, as well as be over the age of 20, unmarried, and heterosexual according to their self-identified gender. A recent survey found that only 15% of people who said they were transgender had undergone reassignment surgery, the most common obstacle being cost.
Official media rarely discuss transgender issues, though they did report on a recent blogpost by J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books. The blog was criticised by many trans activists (and applauded by many feminists) in the West. It was good for transgender people in China, says Alex, the LGBT worker. 「No matter if it’s positive or negative, it helps us to be seen.
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