Agnes who was born 'male', chose to be identified as a 'female'. Which of the following terms can she be associated with?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Trans Gender
Option (1) Third Gender — Incorrect. Third gender is the social category of persons who are neither male nor female. Agnes identifies herself as a woman, so she belongs to one of the two genders, the one opposite to her birth.
Option (2) Trans Gender — Correct. The male body and the female body were long seen as an unchanging identity, but today gender identity can be chosen. Transgender, as a concept, refers to the conversion of the gender status of the body into the opposite gender, by choice or under certain compulsions. Agnes was born male and has chosen to be identified as female.
Option (3) Non-Gender — Incorrect. Agnes has not given up gender; she has chosen a gender, female, so a label meaning ‘without gender’ does not describe her.
Option (4) Cis-Gender — Incorrect. A cis-gender person’s gender identity is the same as the sex recorded at birth. Agnes’s identity is the opposite of hers, so she is not cis-gender.
Note: The concept in Option (4), ‘Cis-Gender’, is not in NCERT (2025-26); explained here for the benefit of the students.
NCERT (2025-26): “…In this chapter we focus on four such groups who have suffered from serious social inequality and exclusion, namely Dalits or the ex-untouchable castes; adivasis or communities refered to as ‘tribal’; women, and the differently abled. We attempt to look at each of their stories of struggles and achievements in the following sections. Apart from these four groups, there are two more groups included in this category like transgender and people of third gender group. Information about these groups are given in Box 5.1a.…”
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