Argentina has adopted a nationwide recruitment quota for trans* people. It is intended to help end the structural exclusion of transvestites, transsexuals and transgender people.

Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández signed a decree on 4 September setting a nationwide recruitment quota for trans* people – 1% of public sector jobs are to be filled by transvestites, transsexuals and transgender people.

To meet the quota, Página 12 said a register should be set up. Transvestites, transsexuals and transgender people who wish to work in the public sector can register voluntarily. In order to qualify for one of the jobs, no change in gender entry must have taken place. It should also be possible to reserve jobs for transvestites, transsexuals and transgender people who have not yet completed their training.

Argentina now faces the challenge of ensuring that the directives of the decree are implemented. This is because Argentina’s largest province, the province of Buenos Aires, introduced a quota of 1% of civil servants to be transgender, transsexual or transvestite as early as 2015. However, it has never been fully implemented, with only a few municipalities trying to fill the posts accordingly.

Nevertheless, LGBTIQ* organisations in Argentina celebrated the decision. The organisation Mujeres Trans Argentina, which campaigns for the rights of transgender people in Argentina, personally thanked Alberto Fernández and Elizabeth Gómez Alcort, the Minister for Women, Gender and Diversity. The decision is a historic step for Argentina.

WE ARE CELEBRATING THIS POLITICAL DECISION WHICH ACCOMPANIES THE CLAIM FOR RECOGNITION OF HISTORICALLY DENIED RIGHTS.

Dear Alberto Fernández, this decision is SOCIAL JUSTICE

Thanks to Eli Gomez Alcorta and the Ministry for Women, Gender and Diversity

So that love and equality prevail among the people

Transgender militancy + national government = policy for all 🏳️⚧

The new measures should help to end structural inequality and better protect trans* women from unemployment or sex work. “Every transvestite, transsexual and transgender person has the right to decent and productive work under fair and satisfactory working conditions”, the decree states.

A survey conducted in 2017 by the Ministerio Público de la Defensa (Office of the Public Defender of the Municipal Government of Buenos Aires) showed that transgender people and other sexual minorities in Argentina often experience discrimination in the workplace or are often not hired at all due to prejudice. At the time, only 9% of the 169 transgender women and transvestites interviewed stated that they were employed in the formal labour market. 70% earned their income through sex work.

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