Cisgender meaning: SC abortion ruling
The SC verdict is a step in the direction of officially recognising that it is not just cisgender women who can give birth – transgender and genderqueer people also give birth.
The three-judge bench said in the order delivered by Justice D Y Chandrachud, “Before we embark upon a discussion on the law and its application, it must be mentioned that we use the term ‘woman’ in this judgment as including persons other than cis-gender women who may require access to safe medical termination of their pregnancies.”
The term cisgender is used to define people whose gender identity and expression match the identity assigned to them at birth.
When a child is born, it is assigned a gender identity based on its physical characteristics. Many believe that gender is a social construct, and growing up, the child may or may not confirm to the birth identity.
For transgender people, their sense of gender identity does not match the one assigned to them at birth.
Thus, a cisgender woman is a person who was assigned female at birth and continues to identify as a woman. On the other hand, a child assigned female at birth can feel it identifies more authentically as a man as it grows up.
Rating: 5