EMPOWERING THE TRANS GENDER COMMUNITY

The transgender community has long lived on the margins of society, eking out a living primarily through begging and sex work. To make a difference, Neelam Jain stepped in and today her social enterprise Peri Ferry is ushering positive change.

- Neha Rege

THE STORY OF THE PLIGHT OF THE TRANSGENDER community is not new. Even today, it faces numerous issues ranging from stigma, discrimination, social exclusion, hostility and violence to lack of access to educational and medical facilities, unemployment and—as a consequence—poverty. Many of them understandably veer towards begging and sex work for survival, despite the risk of criminal prosecution. It is not just the society that treats them as outcasts though; even their own families desert them at a young age sometimes. To make a difference, Neelam Jain started her social enterprise PeriFerry which today is doing commendable work towards uplifting the transgender community in India.

Neelam Jain, founder and CEO of PeriFerry, quit her job in a multinational company to pursue her vision of helping transgender people earn a livelihood and improve their social standing. She says, “The name ‘PeriFerry’ is derived from the word ‘periphery’ (meaning ‘the edge’). We thought this was a word which we could use to relate to transgender people, as they live on the fringes of society, and we, as facilitators, act as a ‘ferry’ and help them reach from the edge to their desired destination.” PeriFerry thus upskills transgender people and helps them find jobs in the corporate sector. It also enables and promotes transgender inclusion in the workplace by providing inclusion and diversity consulting services to corporates. So far, PeriFerry has trained over 330 transgender people, helped over 190 find inclusive employment, partnered with over 60 corporates and sensitised over 22,000 employees.

Finding her calling